


Second Chances

by DippeySause



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Covention, Crying, F/F, First Date, First Kiss, Good Siblings Ed and Em, Horrible Parents/People Alador and Odalia, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Luz is a dork, Picnics, Pillow fight but also not really, Post-Season/Series 01, Relationship Firsts, Sleepovers, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Texting, The Good Witch Azura Book Club (The Owl House), The Library Incident, The good witch azura, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Truth or Dare, Willow is fed up with the dorks not communicating and takes things into her own hands, a lot of crying in chapter 12 im sorry, a lot of pre-relationship stuff, amity is also a dork, grom, how is that not a tag??, prank call, understanding willow, well one dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DippeySause/pseuds/DippeySause
Summary: Luz and Amity, like any couple, have a lot of firsts. Some are good, some are bad, but neither would change any of them for the world.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 78
Kudos: 629





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up last Wednesday with the idea for this fic and spent the next ten hours outlining and writing the first draft. Thankfully I didn't have any classes, but since then this is what I've been working on any time I wasn't doing school work.
> 
> The first four chapters take place during season 1, and the next ten are after. One first per chapter.
> 
> (Also, this is the first multi-chapter fic I've posted since I was in 7th and 8th grade. I'm now a freshman in college. TOH really threw my creative block out the window and I'm very thankful for this show.)

Their first meeting... could have gone better.

**~~~~~**

Technically, Luz and Amity’s first meeting was when Luz was pretending to be Willow’s abomination. But considering that started with Amity yanking Luz out of the sludge pot and demanding to know what she was and ended with the witch willing to let her be dissected... Yeah, neither of them quite count that as their first meeting.

But their (literal) run-in at the Covention didn’t start off much better. Sure, Luz knew that walking into Amity wasn’t the best way to start a potential friendship, but the witch took things too far when she insulted King. So she did the only thing she could think of.

“Just like The Good Witch Azura said when facing down her rival Hecate at the Bog of Immediate Regret: I challenge you to a Witch's Duel!”

Challenging Hexside’s top student to a witch’s duel when she only knew one spell, honestly, barely made the top ten on Luz’s Least Thought Out Decisions list at the time, and probably wouldn’t even make the top fifty depending on what the rest of her summer on the Isles had in store. But she stood confidently nonetheless, because if there was one thing Luz Noceda was good at, it was pretending to know what she was doing.

Amity tried her best to not show any reaction to the name of her favorite book series. _How in the Titan’s name does this human know of Azura?_ But she’s a human, and humans can’t do magic, so Amity accepted the duel.

Of course, because the human’s involved, the duel quickly fell apart, because how else would the human have been able to cast magic unless she was cheating. Blights don’t cheat, _good witches_ don’t cheat, so she gets mad. Not to mention those spikes almost _killed_ her—

But then the Owl Lady was lifting Amity’s hair and ripping a power glyph off the back of her neck. She stared at the glyph in horror, at Lilith in betrayal. How could she have made her own student cheat?

The human moves to say something to Amity, but what else could she be trying to do other than rub it in? So she ran and found a dark corner to sit in, because she didn’t have the energy to find Ed and Em and beg them to take her home.

Luz really, really didn’t want to cheat, and seeing how much cheating hurt Amity just hurt her. Luckily, it didn’t take her long to find the witch, curled up in a dark hallway, looking all the part of someone mentally kicking herself. Despite approaching the witch with the softest, most sincere voice she could muster, Amity still snapped at her.

“You made me look like a fool in front of the Emperor's Coven. My future! You think it's so easy to be a witch. I have been working my whole life to get to the top! You lost! You cheated! Say it! Say you're not a witch!”

Luz looked at Amity, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew that Amity needed to hear it.

“I’m not a witch.”

But she kneeled down and pulled out her notepad and pencil. She saw Amity kneel down with her as she drew the light glyph she’d learned the other day. She tapped it and held it proudly in her hands, showing it to the witch.

“But I’m training hard to be one.”

For a second, Luz thought she got through to her. Amity stared at the ball of light with as much awe on her face as Eda and King had had. But then she turned away and closed herself off again.

“That's nothing. A child could do a light spell.”

Luz clapped her hands over the ball of light, plunging the two of them back into darkness.

“But,” Amity continued, “I’ve never seen it cast like that.”

And they had a meaningful conversation, and Amity dispelled the Everlasting Oath so Luz can still learn magic.

And maybe Amity repeated that conversation in her head often over the week. But who could really blame her? This person, this _human,_ who she’d done nothing to but try to push away, not only spoke to her in a tone of voice she only heard when Ed and Em were being caring older siblings, but showed her that she could do _magic._

_Are all humans this... weird?_


	2. First Realization (Amity)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In light of the Library Incident, Amity tries to make sense of her feelings toward Luz.

The first time Amity realized she liked Luz was no where close to when she actually admitted it to herself.

**~~~~~**

Ed and Em were already home when Amity returned from the library, tired but feeling like she was on top of the world. The latter must have shown more than she thought, since both of the twins followed their sister to her room.

“What kept you out so late?” Emira asked.

“You couldn’t have had _that_ much fun with Luz, could you?” Edric added.

“No,” Amity admitted. “In fact, we were nearly sewn into a book because of your little change to Otabin.”

“Hah, good one, Mittens,” Edric said, ruffling her hair.

Amity shoved his hand away and glared at him. Both the twins paled.

“Shit,” Emira breathed. “Amity, I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t. Luz and I are fine, and we fixed all the books you vandalized. It just took. All. Night.”

“Then why in the hells were you grinning when you walked in?” Edric asked.

Amity blushed and hugged Luz’s copy of _Azura 5_ closer to her chest. “I wasn’t.”

Ed looked at Em. “You don’t still have that pair of memory tweezers we swiped from school, do you?”

“Get out of my room!”

The twins laughed, for a second, before getting serious again.

“Really, though,” Em said. “You aren’t hurt or anything?”

“No. I’m tired and need a shower, so leave me alone.”

The twins headed for her door.

“We’re really sorry, Mittens,” Edric said.

“I’m fine, it’s whatever.” Amity closed the door and locked it with a sigh. She looked at the book Luz gave her and felt her cheeks warm up, thinking back to when they were in the library.

_Amity and Luz ducked behind a small bookshelf in the middle of the isle, one arm each still sewn into a giant book._

_“Now what?” Amity nearly yelled._

_“I don't know!” Luz said. “I didn't even think that would work. I was all like, ‘roaaar’!”_

_And the human, with that one noise, was able to do something no one had been able to do in years._

_She made Amity Blight_ laugh. _It was only a small giggle, and honestly, Amity might have just been going crazy, but that smile that Luz had after she laughed—_

Amity groaned and hit her head against her door. Why did her face suddenly feel so warm? And _what_ was that feeling in her chest? It was the same one she felt when Luz first handed her her copy of _Azura 5,_ something close to excitement but slightly different.

“I need to sleep,” Amity muttered to herself.

**~~~~~**

Luz doodles while she reads. That’s what Amity learned while reading _Azura 5_. Several pages have doodles of Azura dueling Hecate, travelling with her animal companion, or having tea with woodland creatures. Amity draws while reading too, but would never _dare_ damage a book and uses lined paper.

Luz also highlights and annotates, theorizing in the middle of the chapter. Amity stopped to read every one of them, smiling, that same feeling in her chest again. At one point she even found a full essay-length speculation of how the second half of the book would go, wedged in the middle of the book, written on the back of what must be human homework, not even started. She looked at the worksheet for a few seconds before admitting she had no idea what subject it’s even for and flipping it back over to read Luz’s speculation.

It wasn't until the very end of the book, when Azura was making her grand speech to Hecate encouraging the villain to join her side, did Amity start to realize what that feeling in her chest might be.

_“I know there’s good in you, Hecate! You saved me in the Bog of Immediate Regret, and there had to have been a reason for that. We can be friends, we can be more than that, if you would just leave Malingale behind!”_

Amity closed the book with a snap and nearly shoved it off her bed, her heart pounding in her throat.

She _can’t_ have a crush on Luz. She’s had maybe three civil conversations with her. And she’s a _human._ Blights shouldn’t associate with lower witches at all, let alone creatures from another realm!

Amity shook her head harshly.

“No, no. You don’t have a crush on Luz. You’re just....glad you finally have someone to talk about _Azura_ with. Yeah. I don’t have a crush.”

**~~~~~**

“Mittens has a _~crush~_ !”

Amity growled at the twins, her foot getting stuck in a snowbank not helping her mood any.

“Shut it, or I’ll use that fire spell on the two of you.”

Ed and Em snickered, only making Amity’s blush grow more.

Because she really couldn’t deny it any longer. The human had distracted her during training to the point that the twins were able to use it to their advantage. She was mad that Luz had used up her training wand, but forgot that anger almost immediately when Luz wanted to rush after the Slitherbeast and tried to protect her. Not that the human needed protecting; not only did she beat Amity to the Slitherbeast’s cave, but she came with a plan _and_ made it work. And then there was how excited she was about a possible _Azura_ book club—

“Amity and Luz, sitting in a tree,” Edric started singing.

Amity walked faster down the Knee, her fingers in her ears. “LA LA LA, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize how much I use italics until this chapter, wow.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who already left kudos and bookmarked this! I was _not_ expecting that much from the first chapter.


	3. First Hug

Their first hug took both of them by surprise; Amity in the moment, and Luz later on.

**~~~~~**

Amity was well aware by then of how suddenly physically affectionate Luz could be. Whenever she saw her in the halls of school without Boscha or Skara around, the human would give her a “high-five”. She would always see her hugging Willow or Gus, or holding their hands, or resting an arm on their shoulders.

Hells, during the start of their venture into Willow’s mind, Luz’s hand was always in hers or on her shoulder. 

But a full, tight victory hug, after launching the fire monster that had been chasing them into Lake Lacuna, was not something Amity had been expecting at all.

It took her brain a second to process it even happened, but she only managed to blush before the smoke started clearing and _Willow_ was standing in the lake, and they had bigger problems to worry about.

**~~~~~**

_I wasn’t expecting Willow to forgive me right away, but I am glad that we’re starting to make up. It took long enough on my end._

Amity stopped writing in her diary and flexed her wrist. She’d had a lot to write about, and would probably need to leave soon if she didn’t want to get locked in the library. Which meant she had to finish writing fast.

_I know I already knew that I liked Luz, but I completely froze up when she hugged me. I didn’t even get to hug her back before Inner Willow reappeared! It is Luz, so I probably will have another chance to hug her, but that was our first hug! And I messed it up. _

“Attention all patrons, the library will be closing in five minutes,” the head librarian’s voice called out from beyond the bookcases.

“Oh, hells,” Amity muttered. She put her diary back in its spot and headed for home.

**~~~~~**

Luz wasn’t quite sure why she thought of the hug when she’s getting ready for bed that night. She’d never thought twice about hugging Eda or Willow or Gus, except for how odd it was that Eda didn’t actually know what a hug was the first time. Willow and Gus had known what one was, and one of Willow’s memories was literally of Amity hugging her, so that’s not the case with her.

But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Amity seemed tense when she hugged her.

Luz nearly facepalmed.

“Of course,” she said to herself. “She’s just not used to hugs anymore! Oh, no, did I make her uncomfortable? Nuts.” She snapped her fingers. “I’ll just ask next time! Duh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is 100% the shortest chapter. Next week's chapter is, like, a thousand words longer than the whole story combined thus far, so hopefully that'll make up for this shorty.


	4. First Failed Confession (Amity)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me before writing this: Don't rewrite all of Grom, don't rewrite all of Grom, don't--
> 
> So yeah, enjoy Grom everyone.
> 
> Note: the song that plays near the end of the chapter is "Creo en Ti" by Reik.

Amity’s first failed confession technically lasted a whole day: Grom.

**~~~~~**

She did not want to be one of those people who waited until the day of to Gromprose to Luz, but it quickly seemed like she would be. No matter how many drafts she made for her note, nothing felt _right._

“Luz the Human, would you— No, too formal.” Amity crumpled up the note and half-heartedly threw it in her trash can, already overflowing with other failed attempts. She ripped out another piece of pink paper from her notepad and stared at it, trying to will the right words to come to her.

Her door opened slowly, but she heard it nonetheless and turned around. Ed and Em were standing there, looking mildly worried.

“What?” Amity snapped.

“You’ve been cooped up in here all day,” Emira said. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Call me when it’s ready, then.” 

Amity turned back around and glared at the paper, before brightening. _Luz, Will you be the Hecate to my Azura and go to Grom with me?_

She looked at it for a second before groaning. _What if she doesn’t ship them?_ She crumpled it up with a sigh and tossed it.

“That’s not it either.”

She felt Ed and Em step closer to her desk and look over her shoulder. She raised her hand, finger poised to draw a spell circle and throw them out of her room, but Em put her hand atop hers.

“Mittens,” Edric said sagely, “you are _way_ overthinking this.”

She ripped her hand out of Em’s. “I am thinking about this a reasonable amount.”

“You’ve been writing notes for a week,” Emira pointed out. “Grom is _tomorrow._ Ed and I already have dates so you need to get a move on already.”

“I kn— Wait, _you two_ have dates?”

“Why so surprised, Mittens? Everyone loves us.”

“I’ve never seen you hang out with anyone other than each other.”

Edric ruffled her hair. “That’s because we always hang out when we skip class.”

Amity knew he was lying, but couldn’t really bring herself to care. Not when she only had a few hours to write the perfect thing to ask Luz out.

“You know,” Emira said, plucking one of the crumpled notes out of the trashcan and going to unfold it, “we could help you.”

“No!” Amity ripped the paper out of Emira’s hand. “No. I just... want to do this by myself. I don’t need your help. Now could you just leave me alone?”

Ed and Em shared a look, then shrugged and moved to leave.

“Alright,” Edric said. “We’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

“Just keep it simple, Mittens!” Emira called before closing the door behind her.

“That counted as help!” Amity yelled at the door. “Which I don’t need!”

When there wasn’t any response, she turned back to her desk with a sigh. As much as she hated using her sister’s advice, she had a point. Simple. It’s Luz. She doesn’t _need_ it to be a big thing; the human will take care of that at the dance, she’s sure.

Picking up her pencil one last time, she kept it simple.

_LUZ, Will you go to Grom with me? Amity_

**~~~~~**

Amity had been so worried about _writing_ the damned note that she forgot that she still had to actually _give it_ to Luz. She remembered that when she woke up the morning of Grom, and nearly didn’t get out of bed. If it took her a week to write it, she didn’t think she’d _ever_ be able to actually give it off.

But Ed and Em were great alarm clocks without even needing to enter her room, so she got ready for school anyway.

She held the note in her hand the whole walk there, trying to ignore Ed and Em’s obvious attempts to get her to loosen up and out of her own head.

“Come on, Mittens,” Edric said at one point. “What’s the worst that could possibly happen?”

Amity didn’t even need to think: “She rejects me and we stop being friends.”

Emira had the nerve to _laugh_. “What? Are we sure we’re talking about the same Luz here? She would never do that!”

Amity knew that. Well, part of her did. The part of her that remembered how Luz always made sure that she cared about her friends. The part of her that still feels that bubbly feeling in her chest from the first time Luz had made her laugh in the library. The part of her that kept replaying their adventure in Willow’s mind, and how Luz kept checking in to make sure that Amity was okay.

But the other part of her, the one that still felt guilty about cutting Willow off all those years ago, the part of her that’s more her parents than her, kept whispering _What if?_

“Amity.”

She looked up at Emira’s voice, seeing both of the twins looking at her with mild concern.

“She would never do that,” Emira repeated.

Amity just nodded, then walked past the twins into school. She wanted, no, _needed,_ to give Luz the note as soon as possible, so she wouldn’t be thinking about it all day. But now that Ed had asked and she’d said it out loud, all she could think of was Luz rejecting her. Even if the full scenario was unlikely, rejection could still happen, and that scared Amity just as bad.

She was so lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice the people around the corner she was rounding. She bumped into them and snapped on reflex.

“Watch it, nitwit!”

Her eyes widened when she realized she ran into the very human stuck in her head.

“Oh! Hi, Luz...” She looked past Luz and saw Willow and Gus watching them. “...and co. Sorry about that.”

“No problem, let me help you!” Luz said, because of course she would.

The two of them picked up Amity’s books, and for a second the witch’s heart stopped, because the note wasn’t there. But then Luz picked it up with a, “Here, your note,” and Amity snatched it back before she could even think.

“Man, you got some quick grabbers,” Luz said.

“It’s just—”

_For you. Read it, but don’t read it. Just read my mind so I don’t need to give it to you, please. _

“It’s, private,” Amity sighed.

The rarely used speaker crackled to life, and Amity could feel the blood drain from her face. 

_How in the Titan’s name did I forget about the Grom royalty?! It’s fine, it’s fine. The student is picked at random. I may be top student, but I’m still one of—_

“Amity Blight!” Principal Bump’s name broke through her thoughts.

_No no no no no no—_

Everyone was looking at her, and Luz was celebrating for some reason, and she could _not_ take it and ran. She didn’t have a destination in mind, but found herself at the gym, where the dance would be held. She could have laughed, if her mind wasn’t repeating the same two sentences over and over and over and—

_The entire school is going to see Luz reject me and stop being my friend. Mom and Dad will find out I like her and stop letting me see her. The entire school is going to see Luz reject me— _

The floor moving startled her out of her thoughts, and she looked down from the bleachers — when did she get up there? — to see Luz staring down into the depths of Grom’s chamber. Because of course Luz followed her. She shoved her note in her pocket and got up to talk to her.

**~~~~~**

_A replacement? Who in their right mind would want to fight Grom? I’m dead, I’m so dead. I can’t fight Grom, but I can’t ask Luz out. What do I— _

“Luz Chop! AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Something smacked Amity in the chest, knocking her into the mud.

“OW!”

Someone gasped, and a rustle of paper later, Luz was standing in front of her, a ball of light in hand.

“Oh my gosh, Amity! I’m so sorry!”

Luz grabbed Amity’s hands and tried to help her out of the mud, the witch slipping.

“And here I thought this day—”

Luz pulled on her hands a bit harder, pulling Amity to steady footing a few inches away from Luz. Amity looked at her for a second before sitting on a tree stump, finishing her thought.

“—couldn’t get any worse.”

_That was way too close. _

A wet splat made Amity look at Luz, who was now happily sitting in the mud, looking up at her.

“Did you talk to Bump? Was it as terrifying as you imagined?”

_As if I could be scared of Bump anymore,_ Amity thought with a sigh. “He said no. I’m Grom queen, unless I can find a replacement. And who’d want to switch with me?” _It’s not like any of my ‘friends’ would do it. They all look out for themselves._

“I would.”

Between her own thoughts and how quietly Luz spoke, Amity almost missed it.

“What?”

“Amity Blight, I’ll do it.” The dramatic dork that Amity knew and loved — _ADMIRED_ — stood up, raising an arm over her head like a knight wielding a sword. “I’ll take your place and face Grom in the arena. I’ll be your fearless champion!”

A spider crawled from the back of Luz’s head to her face, making the human scream and slam her face in the mud in an attempt to get it off. Amity looked at her in concern.

“Fearless....champion!”

Despite everything, Amity chuckled. She shook her head and stood up, offering Luz a hand up.

“Are you sure?”

Luz was lighter than Amity expected, or maybe just better at gaining her balance than she was, but it only took one pull to bring Luz a few inches from her face, the human positively beaming.

“Positive. What kinda friend would I be if I let you face an embarrassing fear in front of the whole school?”

The word _friend_ made the note weigh heavier in Amity’s pocket. But now was absolutely not the right time.

**~~~~~**

A way too short training session later, and Amity was looking around the Hexside gym from the doorway, trying to find Luz. Eda and King were there, making their way to the bleachers, but the human was nowhere to be found. She wanted to give her the note before Luz had to fight Grom, if only to say she did it. She looked at the note currently in her hand, rubbing it with her thumb.

“I’m not sure if it’s nerves or if I accidentally drank some milk, but something’s making my stomach squirm.”

Amity shoved the note in her pocket at Luz’s voice, and was stuck between breathlessness and laughing when she saw her. She wasn’t wearing either of the outfits she’d shown her before their training, which she was thankful for. This outfit was one hundred percent Luz.

“You look nice. Strange, but nice.” Amity took a breath. _This is your chance._ She put her hands on Luz’s shoulders, and hoped it would go better than her letter writing. “And, thank you, Luz. Honestly, I’m kind of amazed with how fearless you are. You’ve done things I could never do.”

“Hah, yeah right!” Luz smirked. “You goin’ soft on me, Blight?”

Amity laughed, because only Luz could still make jokes when she’s minutes away from her worst fears. “In your dreams.”

And _Titan,_ she could stand in that hallway like that for hours, bantering like that, looking at Luz and how confident and beautiful she is. Just the two of them. But Gus’s voice interrupted them, announcing that it was time for the fight to begin. Luz turned to Amity one last time before walking in.

“Wish me luck!”

The nerves shaking her voice made Amity feel guilty. She shouldn’t have made Luz fight her battle. She should have taken the shame on herself.

“Luck.”

Amity moved to get as close to the pit as she could to watch Luz fight. And, unsurprisingly, she did well with those that she’d listed when training with Ed and Em earlier that day. But then Grometheus sent a black tendril into Luz’s head and transformed into a door, opening to reveal a person-shaped blob, taller than Luz but not nearly bony enough to be Eda.

_Who would Luz be afraid of?_

She couldn’t hear the conversation Luz has with it, even with the entire gym gone silent, everyone staring in confusion at what Grometheus had turned into. But whoever it was, it was enough to make Luz drop her flail. The person-shaped blob morphed into a towering beast, and apparently that was too much for the self-proclaimed “fearless” human. She turned and ran up the ramp, Grometheus following after her.

Cold, icy guilt flooded Amity as she ran out with Eda, the two of them sharing a determined look. Without needing to say anything, Amity hopped on Eda’s staff when she brought it out, flying with the wild witch in chase of their human, who was yelling loud enough to hear. Eda slowed when they neared the edge of the trees.

“Off, kid.”

“But—”

“Now!”

Amity knew the tone of a commanding parent anywhere and immediately dismounted. But this was all her fault, and she was going to make it right. She drew a wordless spell circle and an abomination slightly bigger than her appeared from the ground.

“Abomination, lift me up!”

The abomination lifted the witch into the tree branches, high enough for a good distraction were she to burst out of them. After catching her breath for a second, that’s exactly what she did, running to protect Luz from Grometheus, like she should have done in the first place.

“Stay away from her!”

Grometheus wasted no time in grabbing her in its cold grasp, lifting her high above the ground. She turned to look at the human staring at her in disbelief.

“I’m sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle. I—” _shouldn't have let my fear hurt you_ , is what she wanted to say, but Grometheus was suddenly in her mind, the demon not even needing to look for long to find the potential conversation Amity had been repeating in her head for a week.

Amity felt herself falling, but was placed gently on the ground rather than dropped. Her vision returned, and Luz stood in front of her. No, not Luz. Grometheus. He had stolen Luz’s form, but Grom-Luz was wearing her casual clothes, not the strange tux and tutu combo her crush was currently rocking.

Grom-Luz reached into Amity’s pocket and pulled out the note. With a disgusted, almost disappointed look on their face, they ripped the note in half, crumbling both halves into balls and dropping them on the ground at Amity’s feet. The witch winced, grabbing her dress with both hands so she didn’t reach after Grom-Luz as they walked away. She grabbed one half of the destroyed note, holding it close to her chest.

Luz the Human ran up to Amity, looking at her double strangely, before picking up and reading the other half of the note. Amity felt her blood run cold again.

_Please don’t have picked up the part with your name on it. I can’t handle rejection twice._

But when Luz spoke, her voice was soft.

“You were afraid of getting rejected!” Luz looked up from the note and into the witch’s eyes, holding out a hand. “Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?”

Amity stared at her for a second before shoving her half of the note in her pocket. “Really?”

Luz smiled. “That’s what friends do.”

**~~~~~**

Grometheus was defeated for the year, and a towering cherry blossom tree now stood on the outcrop to confirm that. Luckily, Grom didn’t end with the vanquishing of the demon, and Luz made sure that Amity had the best damn Grom ever. The human spent hours spinning her around the dance floor, switching between actually trying to dance and just having fun. Part of Amity whispered that her parents would be appalled at her lack of decorum, but she truly didn’t care. Not tonight. Not while it was Luz almost stepping on her toes or laughing at her attempt at a human dance called “the robot”.

When they took breaks from dancing, Luz made sure to always offer to bring her a drink or a snack. She felt bad for always accepting the drink offer, but Luz waved it off.

“Come on, let your fearless champion and stand-in date spoil you.” Luz added a bow for dramatic effect, one that had Amity laughing.

“Well, thank you, then, kind madam,” Amity said in her best princess voice.

“No, no, ‘tis merely my duty, your majesty!”

“Nonsense. It’s a great service you’re doing to your kingdom.”

Luz took off her tiara and mock-offered it to Amity. “A service? When I’ve stolen the royal jewels? Surely, you jest!”

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter, attracting the attention of more than a few on-lookers, but as the people who saved the Isles from Grometheus for the year, they kinda got a free pass.

They kept bantering like that throughout the night, and Amity was glad her confession was torn up and likely in the sea by now.

Luz, of course, just had to take a picture at the photobooth. She dragged Willow, Gus, and Amity in for the last one, an arm around Amity’s shoulders. She knew in the moment that she was looking at the human like she’d just drank a love potion, but she can’t even bring herself to care. 

So what if she was a lovestruck fool for this human? 

Honestly, who wouldn’t be?

Near the end of the night, after Willow and Gus had left, Luz disappeared. She came back with a giant grin on her face, dragging Amity to the dance floor.

“I don’t trust that grin,” Amity told her.

“I got the DJ to put on a song from my world! It took a bit to figure out how to plug my phone in, but—”

Luz cut herself off when the current song ended and soft guitar started. The human held out her hand.

“I know it’s a slow song, but may I have this dance?”

Amity blushed, but grabbed Luz’s hand without even needing to think. They pulled each other close and started swaying to the beat as the lyrics started. At Amity’s confused look, Luz chuckled nervously.

“It’s in Spanish. I didn’t think you’d know it.”

“Do you know what it means?”

“Yep. I speak Spanish.”

_Oh, so that’s the name of the weird language she uses sometimes. It does sound similar._

“Well, if you’re the only one that knows it, will you sing it?”

Luz blushed and looked to the floor. “I, don’t usually sing.”

“Come on,” Amity said, squeezing the human’s shoulder and making her look back up. “For me?”

Luz grinned. “I guess I can make an exception. For my queen.”

Now it was Amity’s turn to blush. Luz cleared her throat and began to sing, only just loud enough for Amity to hear her. While the human certainly wasn’t the best singer on the Isles (even when ignoring sirens), she shared the same amount of emotion as the singer, to the point that Amity didn’t need to know what was being said to know the meaning.

It was a love song.

And Luz was singing it for her.

Despite being sure that her face was redder than a bard student’s sleeves, Amity wished she could have saved those three minutes so she could watch them over and over. Just the two of them on the dance floor, swaying gently to the music, Luz singing and trying not to make any eye contact.

But alas, the song ended, as all things do, and Luz finally met her eyes. The human blushed, smiling nervously.

“Beautiful,” Amity breathed. The blood rushed to her face so fast she nearly blacked out. “The song! The song was beautiful!”

Luz chuckled. “That’s why I chose it.” She took a step away from Amity, jerking a thumb to the DJ booth. “I’m gonna go grab my phone.”

“Okay. I’ll be at the table.”

Amity plopped down in her seat and downed her water, hoping that would help the blush on her face. She looked around the gym, taking in the few lingering students, mostly couples not ready to say goodbye quite yet. She used to hate when people did that, but now, she was sure she understood how they felt. 

Her gaze moved to Luz, walking back to their table. She was looking at her phone, frowning, but shook her head and put the device in her pocket. The human donned a smile as she reached the table.

“Hey, tonight was great,” she said.

“It was.” Amity wanted to ask what could have possibly made her frown, but decided against it. “Thank you again, Luz. For everything.”

“Don’t mention it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Worst fears demon and all.”

The sincerity in Luz’s voice made Amity stand and pull the human into a tight hug. It took her a second before returning it, squeezing the witch just as tightly.

They stood like that for a minute, their grips not loosening on the other.

Finally, Amity let go.

“One last dance?” she asked.

Luz looked like she would agree, but her hand brushed against the pocket Amity had seen her put her phone into. She looked to the wall where Eda was standing, talking to King. “I think King is falling asleep. Little guy’s not used to being up this late.” She turned back to Amity with an apologetic smile. “Next time.”

Amity nodded. “Next time, it is. I’ll see you on Monday, my fearless champion.”

Luz chuckled and ducked into a bow. “You as well, my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luz completely forgot that the song is a love song. She saw the title and remembered that it always makes her feel happy and figured Amity would like it, or at least appreciate it. Amity happened to ask Luz to sing it at the exact lyric when she remembered that it was a love song, hence her trying to get out of singing it.


	5. Luz's First Breakdown

The first time Luz truly breaks down after the realm door was destroyed is around Amity.

**~~~~~**

In the wake of Eda’s attempted Petrification at the Conformatorium and Lilith’s unofficial but definite expulsion as the leader of the Emperor’s Coven, the Owl House is a hectic place. They wake the morning after the event to find all of Lilith’s belongings on the front lawn, unceremoniously dumped just about everywhere.

“Hooty, what happened?” Eda demands of the house demon.

“I CHASED THE COVEN AWAY AND THEY DROPPED THEIR STUFF!”

“You infernal demon,” Lilith grumbles, picking up a box with her name written largely on it. “These are my belongings.”

“THEN WHY DID _THEY_ HAVE IT?”

Lilith looks ready to throw a fireball at Hooty, so Luz steps in front of him. The older witch lowers her hand and goes about picking her stuff off the ground. After a minute, she looks at the other occupants of the house.

“May I have some help?”

Eda looks at Luz. “I don’t know, kid. Does she deserve our help?”

Luz hums in mock-thought, tapping her chin. “I don’t know, Eda. Didn’t she curse you to turn into an owl beast for all eternity?”

“I told you—”

“Oh, yeah! She did!” Eda waves at Lilith. “Have fun, Lili.”

Her and Luz walk inside, heading to the kitchen for breakfast.

**~~~~~**

King eventually convinces Luz to actually help Lilith move her things inside and set her up in a “guest bedroom”, which is yet another large closet similar to the one Luz is using as her room. She normally isn’t one to be petty, but considering Lilith tried to _kill her_ two days ago, she doesn’t feel _that_ bad for trying to avoid Lilith as much as possible.

They just finish moving the last box into the room when Hooty yells up the stairs, “GUS AND WILLOW ARE HERE!”

“Guys!” Luz drops the box and practically falls down the stairs, launching herself at her two friends, who manage to catch her in a hug.

“Luz!” they both reply, squeezing the human tightly.

“We were so worried about you!” Willow continues. 

“I’m okay.” _Well, I’m alive, and Eda isn’t stuck in her Owl Beast form._ “We’re okay.”

Willow and Gus let her go. 

“You have to tell us _everything_ ,” Gus says. “From the second we left you.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Eda says, entering the living room. “Give the kid some time to process, would ya?”

“Eda!” they both yell. 

“You’re not an owl!” Gus adds.

“Hadn’t noticed.”

“Eda,” Luz says. “I’m fine. I can tell them.”

The witch looks at her doubtfully, but eventually ruffles her hair. “If you say so, kid.”

Luz turns to her friends. “Come on, I’ll tell you in my room.”

They start up the stairs before Willow asks, “Why doesn’t Eda want you to tell us?”

“It’s just... a lot,” Luz says.

**~~~~~**

_'A lot' is an understatement,_ Amity thinks, staring at the human catching her breath.

It’s the first day both of them are back at Hexside, Amity after breaking her foot and Luz after the Conformatorium disaster. She had insisted on telling Amity during lunch, despite the witch’s attempts to get any information out of her when she saw her before classes started this morning.

“So,” Amity says slowly, “you’re... stuck on the Isles now?”

“Yeah.” 

Her voice is sadder than Amity has ever heard from her — not that she can blame her. She can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in a world without her family, even with how annoying the twins can be. 

Luz shakes her head and dons a forceful grin. “For now, at least. We’ll find a way back to the human realm.”

“I’ll help!” The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. “I mean, I have 24 hour access to the library, and plenty of other books and relics at Blight Manor. There’s bound to be something to help.”

This smile is genuine, but sad. “Thanks, Amity.”

“Of course.”

**~~~~~**

The worst thing about telling everyone everything that happened is that they all know that Luz is stuck and, even though she didn’t use the exact words, misses her mom. It still takes her a few days to actually process the fact that she doesn’t know when the next time she’ll see her mom is.

It really hits her the first time during dinner, out of nowhere. She’s laughing at King trying to steal chicken off her plate, which reminds her of when she did the same with her mom’s plate. Suddenly, she feels like she’s drowning in longing for her mom.

“Luz?” Eda’s voice barely makes it through her head.

She pushes her plate away a bit. “I’m, uh, not that hungry. Go nuts, King. May I be excused?”

She feels more than sees Eda and Lilith share a concerned look.

“I had a long day at school,” she adds. “Just tired.”

“Luz,” Lilith starts.

The human feels her fists clench at her voice.

“You can go,” Eda finishes.

Luz stands up, her chair scraping against the floor. “Good night.”

**~~~~~**

That certainly isn’t the only time being stuck hits her those first two weeks, but it’s the only time she can get away with it. Somehow, the relevation never hits when she’s alone, and whoever she’s with notices her sour mood and tries to cheer her up. She doesn’t mind Willow and Gus’s first attempt with their suggestion to get ice scream after school, partially because she’d yet to have demon realm ice cream and partially because it’s during school.

But after their third attempt, King recruiting her to “train recruits”, Eda enlisting her to brew potions for her business, and even Hooty’s suggestion of hide and seek and Lilith’s attempt to talk with her about school, Luz is feeling like she isn’t _allowed_ to be sad. The second any of them notice her being anything less than her usual ball-of-energy self, someone is suggesting something to do.

As much as Luz loves her friends and Eda, it’s kind of suffocating.

All the same, she doesn’t want to let anyone down. So maybe she goes along with every suggestion said. And maybe she’s shoving everything down, but it’s for their sake. She’ll be fine.

**~~~~~**

Exactly two weeks after the field trip to Belos’ castle, Luz and Amity are sitting in the witch’s library hide-out, having their weekly _Azura_ book club. But no matter how hard Luz stares at the pages, for once she can’t get into it. Her thoughts are on her mom, again, wondering what her reaction would be if they can’t find a way back to the human realm before the summer ends. The fact that her phone had been unable to send text messages for the past two weeks wasn’t helping anything, either.

Luz is so deep in her own thoughts, she starts when Amity closes her copy of _Azura 3._

“Oh,” Luz says, closing her own book. “Time’s up already?”

“No.”

The witch grabs Luz’s copy and puts both books on her desk. She silently ignores Luz’s confused look, instead grabbing her hands and gently pulling her off the beanbag chair she’d been sitting in and to the floor. Amity sits across from her and looks her in the eyes.

“Vent.”

Luz blinks. “What?”

“You’re stuck in your own head so much because you haven’t told anyone how you feel, how you _really_ feel, about being stuck on the Isles, right?”

Slowly, Luz nods.

“Then either talk to me and get it all out, or come with me to the market so we can get you a diary.” Amity pauses. “It, helps to just get things off your chest.”

Luz stares at the witch for a few seconds, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. “Can I hug you?”

Amity nods, and Luz practically tackles her. She squeezes the taller witch maybe a bit too tight, but Amity returns it nearly as hard, and rubs her back when Luz finally lets the sobs come out.

When Luz can speak, she does, letting everything out: how scared she is to be really stuck on the Isles, how much she misses her mom, how frustrated she is that no one else is letting her _feel_ how she does, even how scared she was when fighting Belos and when Lilith used her as bait to get to Eda. Sometimes she needs to take a minute to just cry or breathe, and some things she just doesn’t have the words for in English, but Amity stays quiet. She never tries to explain Luz’s feelings for her, or asks her to stop speaking in Spanish, but does always have a hand out for Luz to squeeze. And Luz appreciates that more than either language can express.

Luz doesn’t know how long she spoke for by the time she’s done, but her throat hurts as she slumps into Amity’s side, out of breath.

“Thanks, Amity,” she finishes. “I did need that.”

“Y-yeah. Anytime, Luz.”

They sit in silence for a minute, Luz catching her breath and giving her throat a break.

“I probably should get a diary so I don’t just talk your ear off when I get overwhelmed again, huh?”

“I don’t mind.” A pause. “If you keep your diary here, I mean! It’s nice to have it far away because the walk to the library helps you get all your thoughts in order.”

Luz smiles and moves her arms so she’s hugging Amity again. “I’ll take your word for it.”


	6. First Realization (Luz)

When Luz realizes she likes Amity, she realizes that she’s already liked her for a while.

**~~~~~**

Amity was right. After finally being able to say everything that had been bothering her, Luz doesn’t feel like she’s faking being okay when she returns to the Owl House that night. She still feels the fear lingering in the back of her head, of course, but it isn’t at the forefront.

She doesn’t think it’s that big of a change, but Eda stops by her room when she’s getting ready for bed.

“Feelin’ better, kid?” the older witch asks.

Luz looks up from the sketchbook that she’d gotten along with a diary at the market. “Huh?”

“You seemed more like yourself tonight.”

Luz hums. “Yeah. I’m doing okay.”

“Good.” Eda points to her sketchbook. “That’s new.”

The human holds it up. “Yep. Me and Amity went to the market today after book club.”

“Ah, getting the rich girl to buy stuff for you. I’ve taught you well.”

“She offered.” Luz makes a mental note to pay Amity back.

Eda shrugs. “Whatever helps you sleep, kid. Night.”

“Night.”

**~~~~~**

No one else mentions Luz being back to her usual self, but by Wednesday, they’ve all noticed it. While there’s an unspoken agreement in the Owl House to not ask about it lest she returns to that state, Willow and Gus have a bit of a hunch.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Amity this week,” Gus points out at lunch on Friday.

Luz gives him a confused look as she swallows her PB&J. “Not more than normal.”

Willow scoffs. “Luz, this is the first time you’ve had lunch with us all week instead of holing up in the Abomination homeroom.”

“Well, yeah. I still haven’t figured out the Abomination glyph yet and we’ve been trying to think of where we could find it. You’d think it would be fingerprints or something but—”

“Is that the _only_ reason you hang out with her?” Willow teases.

“No! Obviously not. Amity’s smart and all, but she’s cool and has a really dorky laugh, and she _loves_ reading to kids and—”

“She reads to kids?” Gus interrupts. “We are talking about Amity Blight, right?”

“Yeah, every Friday afternoon at the library. She does this _great_ falsetto princess voice, way better than my monster voice. She knows all the kids’ names and is so great with them. She knows all their favorite books and—” Luz pauses and blinks for a second. “ _Oh._ Estoy enamorada de Amity.”

Willow and Gus share a confused look.

“I have a crush on Amity,” Luz repeats in English, nearly in a whisper. She gasps. “I’m living an enemies to friends to lovers slow-burn!”

“I know that was English, but that made no sense,” Gus whispers to Willow, who nods in agreement.

Luz remembers she’s sitting with other people and looks between the two of them. “I have a crush on Amity.”

“Yeah, and you’re one of the last people to know,” Willow deadpans, earning a “Willow!” from both her friends. “What? I still remember what you two did in my brain, remember?”

Luz is about to ask what that has to with anything, but then blushes. _That’s_ why she remembered the hug that night.

“Okay. In my defense.... I’ve never actually had a crush on a friend before! It’s different than just a ‘wow, cute person alert’ crush!” She looks at Willow. “How did you know before I did?!”

“Do you even remember the Grudgby match?”

Luz blushes again. “The healer’s office wasn’t _that_ far.”

“Didn’t you hold her hand the entire time her cast was being put on?” Gus asks.

She facepalms. “ _Dios_ , soy un idiota.”

“Hey, don’t call yourself an idiot,” Willow says. “You had one hell of a first two weeks of school, and were still worrying about Eda’s curse. And you just said you’ve never had a crush like this before. It makes sense that you didn’t realize it.”

Luz takes her hand off her face and gives Willow a grin. “Thanks, Willow. But how did you know what I said?”

“Idiota is really close to idiot.”

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer 1: I forgot today was Saturday, so sorry this is a few hours later than normal. That said, I did just finish rewatching _Over the Garden Wall_ and wow, I forgot how creepy it was.
> 
> Disclaimer 2: This chapter is hella accidentally inspired by "so if you feel like i feel" by godblesscicero here on AO3 because that fic has lived rent free in my mind since I read it the first time and I've probably read it around 10 times by now. It's great, y'all should also read it, Luz and Amity write fanfic for the kids at the library.


	7. First Failed Confession (Luz)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!!
> 
> 1) _The Owl House_ is on Disney+ as of yesterday. If you were watching it illegally when it was airing, make sure you rewatch it on Disney+. That's the best way to show that we want as much as Dana and the crew are willing to make. (Just don't decide to binge it starting at 10 pm, because you'll finish at 5 am. Unless you're used to not sleeping then. I am not and my girlfriend yelled at me for it. It was worth it though.)
> 
> 2) I wish this was a happier chapter considering Halloween is one of my favorite holidays but... *points to the angst tag then disappears*

Luz’s first failed confession is actually that afternoon.

**~~~~~**

Luz always walks with Amity to the library after school on Fridays, since they hold their _Azura_ book club right after Amity finishes reading to the kids. The setup was Amity’s suggestion; she didn’t feel comfortable having the book club anywhere but her hideout, and she was already in the library on Fridays anyway. Luz had agreed to it immediately, since she loved seeing Amity read to the kids and being able to hear the stories herself. Plus, the walk from Hexside to the library isn’t exactly a short one, giving them plenty of time to talk about everything from _Azura_ to family to school to magic in general to Boscha’s latest bullshit.

But today, their walk is quiet. Since lunch, Luz has been thinking of how she should tell Amity of her feelings — or, even _if_ she should. Her immediate reaction might have been to compare the situation to a fanfic, but she knows this is real life. Amity might not feel the same way — probably doesn’t feel the same way!

_She wanted to ask someone to Grom,_ Luz remembers. _And she was so nervous about asking them. There’s no way she wanted to ask me—_

“What are you thinking about?”

Amity’s question startles Luz so bad she jumps and “You!” is out of her mouth before she can actually process the question.

Amity goes bright red. “Me?”

“Yeah! I mean, your crush, specifically. The person you wanted to ask to Grom.”

“Really?”

“Yep. You never told me who it was, so how am I supposed to set you two up?”

Amity goes redder, if possible, but Luz is too busy mentally kicking herself to notice.

_Could you think before you speak_ for once, _Noceda?_

“I, uh,” Amity says. “I don’t know about that.”

“Right. Sorry. Just... you’re such a good friend—” _Why does it already hurt to say that?_ “—and you’ve done so much for me! I want to return the favor. But if you don’t want me to, I totally respect that!”

Amity nods. “I... I don’t want to do anything about my crush right now. Me and her are becoming really good friends and I don’t want to mess that up.” Amity winces and whispers, “Shit.”

But Luz’s mind is too focused on everything else she said to be worried about the pronoun she used. _Becoming really good friends? I didn’t know she was hanging out with anyone else! Ugh, her crush is so lucky._

“That’s great!” Luz forces herself to say. “Maybe something will happen naturally, if you’re already getting closer.”

“I can hope.”

Luz nods, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

“What about you?” Amity asks.

“Huh?”

“Do you... like anyone?”

“Uh...” _I can’t tell her_ now! _At least not that it’s her._ “Yeah, actually. I kinda just realized it today, but I think I’ve liked her for a bit.”

“Oh! Oh, cool. Uh, good luck.”

“Thanks.”

They reach the front steps of the library, and they both stop. They stand there for a minute, neither saying anything and looking everywhere but at each other.

Luz squeezes the strap of her messenger bag. “I, uh, just remembered I have to bathe Hooty today. Sorry.”

“Oh, okay.” The look on Amity’s face hurts Luz more than their conversation had. “Next week though, right?”

And damn it all, Luz brightens for a second, if only in hopes to cheer Amity up. “Yeah, of course!”

She gets a smile from the witch, and they give each other a quick wave goodbye. But the second Luz turns around, both of their moods drop, minds repeating what the other said about their crush.


	8. First Locked Room

The first — and hopefully only — time Luz and Amity get locked in a room together is entirely Willow’s fault. She blames the two of them for driving her to do it.

**~~~~~**

When Luz walks into Hexside on Monday, Willow’s first thought is that she’s thinking about being stuck on the Isles again.

“Hey, Luz,” Gus says, sounding like he’s thinking the same thing Willow is.

“Hey, guys. Talking to Amity didn’t go well.”

“Oh!” Willow shares a surprised look with Gus. “You told her about your crush?”

Luz groans and heads for her locker. “Kinda. I was thinking about it too long and said I was thinking about _her_ crush. Apparently, she’s been getting closer to them and hanging out a lot!”

“Huh,” Gus says. “I didn’t know she was hanging out with anyone else.”

“Me neither! I couldn’t tell her I liked her after _that_ , but she asked if I liked anyone.”

“And?” Willow prompts.

“I said I like someone, but I didn’t tell her who.”

Luz reaches her locker, and Willow takes the human’s distraction to breathe and calm herself down. She thought that Amity’s crush on Luz was as obvious as Luz’s was on Amity! Actually, scratch that; Amity’s was _more_ obvious. After Grom, Amity practically couldn’t be seen around Luz without blushing. How in the Titan’s name did she miss that?

The bell screams before they can talk with Luz more. The human brightens a bit.

“I’ve got Intro to Bard this morning. See you guys later!”

“Bye,” Willow and Gus chorus.

Gus waits for Luz to turn a corner before saying, “I was playing dumb. I know Amity likes Luz.”

“Oh, thank Titan.”

Gus looks genuinely offended. “How dumb do you think I am, Willow?”

“Not that dumb! I just forgot how good of an actor you are.” She sighs. “I have math with the Abomination track right now. I wonder if Amity’s taking this any better.”

“Ten snails says she’s taking it worse.”

“I’m not losing ten snails.”

Gus shrugs. “Suit yourself. See you at lunch!”

“Bye, Gus.”

Sure enough, Amity _is_ taking it worse than Luz. The first thing Willow notices when walking into math is that she’s wearing her Top Student badge again.

_That’s not good._

Once class starts, Willow notices something else off about Amity.

She’s not paying attention.

Normally, no matter what class she’s in, Amity will have her hand up to answer at least every other or every third question. She also usually takes diligent notes that makes Willow’s hand cramp at the thought of writing so fast. But today, Amity’s pencil moves once every few minutes and she only raises her hand twice in the whole period.

The bell screams. Willow moves to talk to Amity, but she’s already packed up and out the door before the bell stops screaming. Yet another un-Amity thing to do.

Luz is in her next class, Carnivorous Plants. The human is as distracted as Amity was, and Willow needs to pull her out of danger of being several plants’ late breakfast.

“Luz,” Willow says after the third time. “I know you’re upset about Amity, but you need to pay attention.”

“Right, right, sorry. I promise, I’ll pay more attention. No more thinking about Amity and her mystery crush.”

**~~~~~**

Luz keeps her promise for the rest of class, but at lunch, is staring at the food on her tray while pushing it around with her fork instead of eating it.

“We need to do something,” Gus whispers to Willow, watching Luz. “This is just sad.”

“Already on it.”

She summons her scroll and texts Amity.

_Meet me in the greenhouse_

_Why?_

_Just be there_

She returns her scroll to non-existence and nods to Gus.

“Hey,” she says, making Luz look up a bit, “I think I left something in the greenhouse. Can you guys help me look?”

“Sure!” Gus says, standing immediately.

“What’d you forget?” Luz asks, perking up.

_I knew an adventure would work._ “My shears. I need them for my next class.”

“Well,” Luz stands with them and picks up her tray to dump in the trash. “Can’t let you forget those!”

Luz leads the way to the greenhouse, and Gus gives Willow a high-five.

**~~~~~**

The first thing Luz notices when they reach the greenhouse is someone who she wasn’t expecting to be there.

“Amity?”

The witch turns around at her name, and goes red when she sees the human. “Luz?!”

A hard shove throws the human into the greenhouse and Amity’s arms. Both of them scramble to step away from each other, and in that time the entrance is sealed with a wall of plants.

“Talk about your crushes!” Willow yells through.

“What?!”

Amity runs up to the wall of plants and bangs on them. “Willow, let us out!”

“~My mind.~”

Luz and Amity both blush, turning away from the other.

After a minute of standing in awkward silence, they hear a sigh from outside.

“Guys, the whole school knows you’re bummed out,” Willow says. “For Titan’s sake, just talk.”

Luz sighs and slides down the wall. “She’s not gonna let us out until we do, you know.”

Amity crosses her arms tightly. “I know.” She slides down next to Luz. “That doesn’t mean I like it.”

They return to silence, looking at everything but each other. Part of Luz feels tempted to just grab a fire glyph and burn down the plants at the entrance, but she doesn’t know how close Willow and Gus are standing to it, or how much smoke would fill the greenhouse before enough was burned away, and God forbid the flames catch another plant on fire—

Her thoughts stop when she feels something in her hand. She looks down and laughs. Her wandering mind had drawn a plant glyph in the dirt, and now there’s a small bouquet of roses in her grasp.

“What?” Amity asks.

Luz holds up the roses. “Apparently my magic agrees with Willow.”

Amity looks at the flowers for a second, before exhaling in what might be considered a laugh. “Well, I’m not one to disagree with magic. Who should go first?”

Luz shrugs, then smirks. “Youngest goes first.”

The witch groans. “I still refuse to believe you’re older than I am.”

“I didn’t think you were younger than Willow either, but here we are.”

That gets a real laugh out of Amity, and Luz can’t help but grin.

“Alright,” the human says with a clap of her hands. “How to do this in the least painful way possible? Uhhhh.....” _Come on, Luz, think. What question-based games are there?_ “Oh! 20 Questions!”

“Humans have that too?”

Luz nods. “20 Questions it is! Do I know your crush?”

Amity blushes. “You said youngest goes first.”

“Youngest _answers_ first.”

Amity rolls her eyes. “Fine. Yes, you know my crush. Do I know yours?”

“Yep! Let’s see....you said you and her are becoming good friends, so I’m guessing it’s a girl?”

The witch nods. “Yours is too, right?”

“Sure is. I’m guessing she goes to Hexside?”

“Of course. I could never like anyone from _Glandus._ Could you imagine the scandal?”

“Oh, it would make headlines, for sure. I can see them now.” Luz sits straighter and loudly announces, “ ‘Hexside’s Top Student Secretly A Turncoat? A _Romeo and Juliet_ Story for the Modern Times’!”

Both of them laugh.

“You, on the other hand,” Amity says, “are a scandal enough by just being here.”

“It’s a talent,” Luz says proudly. “Now come on, ask away.”

“Alright, alright. Does your crush go to Hexside?”

“Yep!”

“Really? I thought you knew like half of the Isles.”

“No way! I’ve had some adventures, sure, but the only people our age I know go here.”

Amity raises an eyebrow. “So you know the Bat Queen, but not students from Glandus or St. Epiderm?”

“Hey, I only know the Bat Queen because Eda babysat her kids during the Library Incident. Great timing on your and the twins’ part, by the way. I do _not_ do well with babies.”

“ _Really?_ Luz Noceda doesn’t do well with babies? I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true! They’re threatened by my cuteness!”

Amity laughs, loudly and unapologetically, the way only Luz gets to hear her laugh. The human can’t help but stare at her with a dumb smile on her face, somehow managing to crush on her even harder.

“Okay, okay,” Amity says when she can breathe again, her cheeks still pink. “We got off topic.”

Luz shrugs. “I’m good at that. I think it’s my turn?”

Amity nods.

“Alright. Um... what— no, that’s not a yes or no question. Is she in the... Abomination track?”

Amity takes a second to think. “Technically yes.”

_Technically yes?_ Luz thinks.

Before she can actually ask it, Amity asks her question. “Because you said Abomination, is your crush in the Abomination track?”

Luz takes a breath and nods, then asks before Amity can react, “Is she in multiple tracks?”

“That, is what the technically meant, yes.”

“But me and Jerbo are the only ones in Abomination and something— WAIT!”

Amity blushes bright red and mutters, “Titan, that took you long enough.”

“You— me?” Luz points to herself. “Me?” She laughs in disbelief. “Amity, you! _Estoy_ enamorada de _ti_!”

Amity stares at Luz, the human still laughing to herself. It takes a few seconds for Amity to have a guess as to what she meant.

“Wait,” she says slowly. As much as she doesn’t want to get her hopes up, they’re rising fast. “You like me too?”

Luz nods, the grin on her face brighter than the sun. Amity stares at her for a few more seconds, processing, before crushing the human in a hug. Luz returns it, standing and swinging her around. Amity’s laughter joins hers, echoing on the walls of the greenhouse. Luz stops spinning and puts Amity down, head spinning for more than one reason.

“Luz, would you—”

“ _¡Claro que sí!_ ”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Amity says with a laugh in her voice.

“Right, sorry.”

“Would you be my girlfriend?”

“YES!”

Luz swings Amity around in a hug again, sending them back into laughter.

“ _Finally_.”

Luz puts Amity back down and they both look to the entrance, the plants having been replaced with a relieved Willow and an excited Gus.

“Neither of you could hide your crushes at all,” Willow continues.

“There we go!” Gus tosses an illusion in the air, bright blue spelling out _Congrats!_

“Aw, thanks Gus!” Luz says.

The bell screams for class, reminding the four of them that they’re still in school. Amity glares at it.

“Ugh, dang bell,” Luz says. She hugs Amity tightly again, stopping her glare. “I’ll see you after school!”

The witch returns the hug just as tightly. “You too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment you've all been waiting for!
> 
> Alright, the next chapter ate up my entire buffer, and I am badly behind on school work. Plus, with *gestures to everything happening in America*, I haven't really had the brain power to do much else but attend class lately. So... this is gonna be on hiatus until my semester ends. Chapter nine will be posted December 12th and I'll return to weekly updates after that.
> 
> That said, thank you to everyone who's read this so far, and double thanks to everyone who's left kudos, comments, or bookmarked it. 
> 
> See you guys in a month.


	9. First Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pro tip: don't procrastinate your finals in college. You will regret it.
> 
> Anyway, welcome back! Enjoy 2k of fluff and awkwardness.

Their first date has its ups and downs.

**~~~~~**

It takes until about lunch on Wednesday before Amity _actually_ believes that her and Luz are officially girlfriends. Partly because she had been imagining it for a month and she thinks she’s still dreaming, and partly because Luz respects her fears of her parents and her want to keep their relationship a secret.

 _Well,_ she thinks as Luz nudges her knee under their lunch table, a blushy grin on the human’s face, _mostly secret._

Willow and Gus know, obviously, and Luz tells Eda and King everything. Anything that happens in the Owl House, Hooty knows about, and considering Luz told her that she screamed, “I have a girlfriend!” when she got home on Monday, she’s pretty sure Lilith knows too. Ed and Em saw how happy Amity was when she got home on Monday and demanded to know what had her “all smiley.” She only waited to make sure their parents weren’t home before telling them. The inevitable teasing that followed was absolutely worth having someone she’s close with knowing.

She nudges Luz’s knee back, earning a giggle from the human, which gets a chuckle from Willow.

“You guys are adorable,” the plant witch says.

“We didn’t do anything,” Amity says innocently.

“Luz got my leg first.”

“Luz!”

The human blushes. “Sorry. I underestimated how wide the table is. Also, your posture is princess perfect and makes your legs too far away.”

Amity rolls her eyes and stretches her leg until her foot taps against Luz’s. Luz taps her foot back with a wide grin.

**~~~~~**

The week continues like that, with leg and foot nudges under cafeteria tables and their desk in Abomination class, Luz helping Amity carry her books to class (“As any good fearless champion would do,” she always says with a wink that makes Amity roll her eyes as much as it brings heat to her cheeks), and maybe a few too many high-fives. Finally, it’s Friday, and it’s _Azura_ book club, and Luz practically tackles her with a hug the second they’re inside Amity’s hideout.

“Sorry,” she says when they both regain their balance, her arms never leaving Amity. “I’ve just wanted to hug you all week!”

Amity chuckles and returns it. “I did too.”

They stay in the hug for a full minute before Luz finally backs away, pulling her copy of the first _Azura_ book out of her messenger bag with a flourish.

“Shall we continue where we left off?” she asks dramatically.

The witch chuckles. “We shall.”

Amity grabs her own book and takes the beanbag chair, while Luz plops down on the pile of pillows next to it.

They read two chapters, Amity passionately voicing Azura while Luz brings the side characters to life, and they switch off the role of narrator. They’re still early in the book, it being only their third meeting, but reading with Luz feels so natural that Amity can’t help but wish she could stay longer.

When they reach the end of their reading, Luz closes her book with a clap.

“You know,” she says, “after my first day here, I can safely say I’d rather have had Azura’s first quest. Helping out a small village is way better than getting tricked by a puppet demon.”

Amity nods, remembering when Luz had told her about the fake wizard that had tricked her into thinking she was a Chosen One like Azura. “But at least you don’t need to worry about the demon again. Azura and Hecate fight for the next five books.”

Luz hums. “Good point.”

Amity returns her book to its spot on her shelf. When she turns around, Luz is fidgeting nervously with her hands.

“Luz?”

The human looks up with a quick, “I’m fine!” She clears her throat and stands up, grabbing Amity’s hands. “Okay, I know you said we have to be secret, but that doesn’t completely knock dates off the table, does it?”

Amity blushes. “Uh, no!”

“Good, good.” Luz grins. “Do you... want to have a picnic on Sunday? Under the tree we made when we beat Grom?”

“YES!” Amity winces at her own volume. “Yes. I would love that.”

“Great! I’ll bring all the food and the blanket, so you don’t need to worry about anything.”

“Okay.”

The two of them look at each other for a few seconds before they both crush each other in another hug.

**~~~~~**

Luz looks between her scroll and the picnic basket, tapping her foot on the floor, trying to think of what she might be forgetting. She’d already packed sandwiches of every type they had ingredients for (and labeled them accordingly), cookies that King had helped her bake last night, apple blood boxes, and napkins; and the blanket is rolled up on the table next to the basket. It isn’t much, but Penstagram wasn’t all that helpful when she started preparing last night, and still isn’t being helpful now. She taps her foot faster, scrolling to another post.

“THAT TICKLES!”

“AH!” Luz drops her scroll and glares at Hooty, who had peeked his head through the window. “Hooty!”

“SORRY! YOU WERE TAPPING YOUR FOOT A LOT!”

Luz picks up her scroll. “That’s because I feel like I’m missing something, but I don’t know what.”

“Do you need assistance, Luz?”

Luz starts again at Lilith’s voice, leveling a glare at the witch for a few seconds before sighing.

“I don’t know. Me and Amity are having a picnic later but I feel like I’m under packed.”

“May I see what you have?”

Luz gestures to the basket, and Lilith peeks in.

“MAYBE I COULD HELP!”

“No, Hooty,” both of them answer at once.

“GEEZ, OKAY!” He pulls his head out of the widow and disappears.

“I don’t know how Edalyn deals with that... whatever he is,” Lilith mutters, taking out some of the sandwiches.

Luz can only shrug; she has a high tolerance for energy and craziness, but invading privacy tends to be where she draws a line. And Hooty has a habit of doing that.

A lot.

Lilith looks over what Luz had packed with a hum. “I think you have enough here for a picnic. It is only lunch time, so too much food isn’t that great of an idea.”

Luz hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, but it’s still a _date._ I told her I’d bring everything, so I don’t want to be underprepared.”

A loud set of footsteps crashes down the stairs, and a second later, Eda is standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“You have a date with the Blight girl?!”

“Amity,” Luz corrects automatically, “and yes.”

“And you’re asking _Lili_ for help?” Eda laughs. “Kid, she’s never been on a date before!”

Lilith looks at her sister with a calmly raised eyebrow. “And you have never had a date that didn’t end with something or someone on fire, arrested, or stolen.”

Eda shrugs. “I know how to have fun.”

Luz shakes her head. “No offense, Eda, but I _really_ want this to go, like, third date good.”

Both witches share a confused look, one that Luz knows well from the human realm and has only gotten more familiar with while on the Isles.

She explains, “The first date in any given romance story is either awkward or ends with something bad happening. The second date is usually when a bitter ex shows up and drives a wedge between the two love interests. The _third date_ is when things actually manage to go well.” Luz fiddles with the hem of her hoodie. “But, since things go well, the audience doesn’t usually get to see what actually happens, so I’m _kinda_ going in blind here.”

“No offense, kid,” Eda starts, “but this is _you_ we’re talking about. With your track record, I wouldn’t be surprised if a dragon swoops in and steals Amity away.”

Luz’s eyes light up. “Dragons exist too?!”

“They did,” Lilith says. “They’ve been extinct for centuries.”

Luz deflates, and Eda smacks Lilith’s shoulder. “Way to kill her dreams, Lili.”

Luz shakes her head. “I get what you mean, though, Eda. And I prepared for that.” She grabs a stack of glyph cards out of her pocket and spreads them out, including the electricity glyph she’d found burned into the ground after last night’s thunderstorm.

An alarm goes off on Luz’s scroll, and she scrambles to turn it off, cramming the glyphs back into her pocket.

“I have to go or I’ll be late!”

Eda grabs her shoulders. “Hey, kid, look at me.”

Luz stops and looks at her mentor. The witch gives her a serious look before her eyes soften.

“Just be you, kid. You don’t need to do anything flashy. I mean," she laughs, "you already got the girl.”

Luz gives her a tight hug. “Thanks, Eda.”

The witch ruffles her hair. “Any time, kid.”

**~~~~~**

Amity is glad that Luz suggested lunch under their Grom tree, honestly. Work had gotten busier lately for her parents, so they were often out of the Manor from breakfast until dinner or later, and the twins had disappeared at some point this morning. Even though the Manor tends to be quiet, the complete lack of anyone else is eerie and off-putting.

So seeing Luz pacing around the Grom tree, switching between various incredibly dorky poses, makes Amity relax for the first time all day.

“No,” Luz is saying to herself, dropping her peace signs. “Something cooler.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Amity says.

Luz starts with a squeak, trying to turn around to look at the witch and succeeding in falling on her face. Amity winces and helps her up.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay! I was distracted.”

“Distracted by being a dork?”

“Your dork.”

The both of them blush furiously at that. Luz’s attempt at a recovery only comes out in broken syllables, and Amity chuckles nervously.

“Sorry,” Luz finally manages to get out. “Don’t know why I said that.”

“It’s fine.” Amity clears her throat, hoping her voice will lower from its current squeakiness. “So, what’d you bring for lunch?”

“Right, food!”

They eat mostly in silence, other than when Amity compliments the sandwiches and cookies. Hearing the human be so quiet is far more unnerving than the Manor being quiet, but Amity is so scared to say anything awkward that she can’t really think of anything to say at all. 

As if thinking the word “scared” was a summoning, suddenly a human-faced cat drops out of the branches.

“Luz,” it says.

“Not again!”

Amity doesn’t even see Luz take out a glyph, but an arc of lightning shoots from the ground, making the fragment of Grom explode. The witch turns to her with an impressed look.

“Good reaction time.”

“Thanks.” Luz rubs the back of her neck. “Hooty has unwillingly been my training partner.”

“What does that mean?”

“He keeps popping into rooms while I’m drawing glyphs.” She chuckles. “I don’t usually hit him, luckily. Still not sure how you did before Grom.”

Amity blushes at the reminder. “That was... not my finest hour.”

“Are you kidding? Lilith and a whole buncha Emperor’s Coven guards couldn’t hit Hooty _once,_ and you gave him a black eye that lasted nearly a week! You were amazing!” Luz blushes. “Are amazing.”

Amity chuckles. “Says the human who can do magic.”

“Fine, we’re both amazing.”

“When’d you learn that lightning glyph, by the way?”

Luckily, conversation is easier after that. They make a plan to keep looking for the Abomination glyph, since they’d decided to take a break after the first week of searching, but now Luz is hyped to find it again. They keep talking about magic, and lose track of time until Luz gets a notification on her scroll and her eyes widen.

“What?” Amity asks.

“We’ve been here for two hours. Eda’s asking if we were eaten by a griffin.”

It certainly hadn’t felt like two hours, but time does always seem to speed by when she’s with Luz. The human types a quick response to the Owl Lady before putting her scroll back in her pocket.

“Well, we should probably get going. You want me to walk you home?”

“Sure!”

Amity winces at her own excitement, but Luz beams and starts packing up the picnic basket. The witch helps her after a second, and soon enough Amity is leading the way back to Blight Manor.

The walk is far too short, and they see the gates of Blight Manor in no time. Amity stops before stepping out of the forest, just in case the twins are back by now.

“Thanks for walking me,” she tells Luz.

“Any time. Goodbye hug?”

Amity nods, and Luz puts the picnic basket down to crush the air out of the witch’s lung. To her credit, she returns it almost as hard. When Luz loosens it and starts to pull away, she plants a fast kiss on Amity’s cheek, nearly making the witch black out with how fast blood rushes to her face.

“Sorry,” Luz says. “Too much?”

“No!” Amity clears her throat. “No. I just. Wasn’t expecting it. Is all.”

The human chuckles. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

Amity watches Luz leave until she hears two voices behind her.

“~Mittens and Luz, sitting in a tree~”

The appearance of a fireball in their sister’s hand cuts Em and Ed off.


	10. First Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early morning chapter brought to you by the fact that I'll be baking all day today with my grandma. On that note, happy holidays to all!
> 
> Important note: there's still actual plot happening between the chapters, and at this point Belos has reconstructed the Realm Door. But, without the key, it doesn't work. This won't have any affect on the plot beyond Luz's phone working again, though.

Their first slumber party is a group one at Willow’s house.

**~~~~~**

After a particularly rough week with tests in nearly every track, drama with Boscha in school, Lilith and Hooty’s ongoing feud affecting their dinner more than once, _and_ several close calls with the Emperor’s Coven, Luz is content with wrapping herself up in her sleeping bag and sleeping until Monday. She starts doing just that when her text tone goes off on her phone.

After discovering the lightning glyph, Luz spent a while experimenting with other various human tech Eda had around the house until she figured out a way to effectively and safely charge her phone. When she was finally able to turn it on for the first time in just over a month, she was bombarded with hundreds of messages from her mom (and no shortage of fanfic updates). She spent two hours reading all the missed messages, then told her mom that she broke her charger and was finally able to borrow one from a camp counselor.

Since then, their daily messages returned, and as much as Luz had missed them, she really does not need the picture her mom sent of a plate of particularly good looking empanadas. She whimpers as her stomach grumbles in longing for the comfort food. She pulls her hood up and snuggles into her sleeping bag more.

Eda knocks on her open door, looking at the human in concern.

“Rough week?”

Luz nods and pulls the drawstrings of her hoodie closed. “Can you sleep-spell me into a coma for the weekend?”

“I’m not doing that, kid.” After a few seconds, the witch sighs. “Didn’t you say that humans have, uh, moonlight conjurings but without the animation?”

Luz pushes her hood down and looks at her mentor. “Slumber parties?”

Eda snaps her fingers. “Yeah, those things. How about you have one with your friends this weekend?”

Luz launches herself off the ground and hugs Eda tightly. “Thank you thank you _thank you,_ Eda!”

“Heh, yeah.” Eda returns the hug. “Sure kid.”

Something crashes loudly downstairs, followed immediately by Lilith and Hooty yelling at each other and King trying to get them to stop.

“You might not want to have it here, though.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on it.”

**~~~~~**

Luckily, Willow’s dads are more than okay with Willow hosting a slumber party at their house, and everyone is free for Saturday night. Despite being on the Isles for two and a half months, the only demon-realm house Luz had been in was Eda’s, so she can’t really help but admire everything in Willow’s living room. Amity, too, is looking around the living room, though she has a nostalgic smile on her face.

“Not much has changed, huh?” she says to Willow.

“Yeah. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ as Pop always says.”

Luz holds up something triumphantly. “Hey, what’s this?”

“That’s a mirror, Luz,” Willow deadpans.

“Oh, right.” The human puts it back down. “I knew that.”

“So,” Gus says, “what do humans do at slumber parties again?”

“From what Willow said, the same things you guys do at moonlight conjurings. Just without the whole ‘bringing things to life’ thing. Usually.”

“Really?” Amity asks, a grin on her face that immediately makes Luz nervous. She looks at Willow. “In that case, we should start with a horror movie, right?”

Willow looks at the excited look on Gus’ face and the curious but still fearful look on Luz’s. “I’d say so.”

**~~~~~**

“Not gonna lie,” Luz says when the credits start rolling on the crystal ball, “I was kinda expecting that to be a lot scarier.”

The three witches share a look.

“You screamed at every jump scare,” Gus points out.

“Jump scares are cheap tactics to make you feel like you actually got scared.”

“But they worked on you?” Willow says.

“Doesn’t matter.” Luz grabs her messenger bag and starts digging through it. “But I think we could use a change of mood. There you are!” She pulls out a thick pad of paper and a pen, then looks at her friends. “Have you guys heard of MadLibs?”

“Does it have something to do with your glyphs?” Amity asks.

“Nope.”

It takes a bit of explaining, especially since the witches keep forgetting what type of word is what and the “once a round” rule per word, but once Luz reads out their first one, they don’t want to stop. They end up filling out ten of them before Luz flips the book closed.

“Aw, come on,” Amity complains between laughs. “One more?”

“I’ve got to save _some_ for future slumber parties!” Luz puts it back in her bag and adds in a much quieter tone, “And my mom and I already filled out half of them.”

“In that case...” Gus drags his own bag over and pulls out a small stack of magazines. “Human magazines!” He flips one open and shows off a survey. “They have surveys like what your ideal pet is and which celebrity best matches your personality. I don’t know who the celebrities are, but they’re entertaining!”

“Oh, those are great time killers,” Luz says, making grabby hands for one.

Willow and Amity don’t seem nearly as excited, but accept the magazines that Gus hands them anyway. 

They don’t spend nearly as long doing the surveys as they had the MadLibs. After they hand the magazines back to Gus, they change into their pajamas and start setting up their sleeping bags. Gus digs through his bag for a few minutes before groaning.

“Ugh, I forgot to bring a pillow.”

“There should be an extra one in the closet,” Willow says, getting up to check. She returns a minute later with a pillow in hand, and with a call of, “Catch,” she tosses it to Gus.

Well, _tries_ to toss it to Gus. She manages to hit Amity, sitting near Gus, with it.

“Willow!” Amity says.

“Sorry!”

Luz gasps. “We should have a pillow fight!”

The witches all look at her, confused. “A what?” they chorus.

“A pillow fight! A classic staple of slumber parties. In movies, at least.” She holds her own pillow up. “You just kinda wack each other with your pillows until you get tired.”

“Why?” Gus asks.

Luz shrugs. “It’s fun?”

“Fair enough.” 

Gus grabs his pillow from where it landed between him and Amity and wacks her in the stomach, and the pillow fight begins.

**~~~~~**

Luz looks at Amity, since she hadn’t hit her in a while, only to find the witch running a hand through her hair, which had fallen out of its usual half ponytail. Heat creeps into the human’s cheeks, until two pillows catch her in the stomach and send her to the floor.

“That was cheating!” she wheezes, standing back up and giving Willow and Gus a half-glare. “I was distracted!”

“You never told us any of the rules,” Gus points out. 

Amity smirks. “You goin’ soft on me, Noceda?”

Luz smirks back. “In your dreams, Blight.”

She swings her pillow at her girlfriend, who dodges it and swings her own pillow at Luz’s head. The direct smack to the face sends her crashing onto the couch.

“Oh, sorry!” Amity says quickly.

Luz laughs, sliding off the couch to the floor. She tosses her pillow down and raises her hands. “Alright, I surrender.”

The other three join her on the floor, dropping their pillows on their sleeping bags and leaning against the couch.

“That was surprisingly exhausting,” Willow says.

Gus nods with a yawn. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna turn in.”

A chorus of “Night”s follows his sentence, and the girls move to the kitchen to let him sleep in peace. 

“Darn,” Luz says. “I was gonna suggest Truth or Dare next.”

Willow and Amity share a look behind Luz’s back, the latter nodding.

“How do you play that?” Willow asks as innocently as she can.

**~~~~~**

_Either they were lying about not knowing what Truth or Dare is or they are naturally_ way _too good at this,_ Luz thinks twenty minutes later. Regardless of which it is, the fact that her girlfriend and best friend are teaming up on her is leaving her entirely regretting suggesting the game in the first place.

“I am _not_ prank calling Principal Bump,” the human says. “Is it too late to change to truth?”

“Yes,” Willow and Amity say in unison.

Luz groans and puts her head on the table. “Just tell me my alternate dare already.”

“Prank call Boscha,” Willow says.

“Ay, Dios mío, ustedes son imposibles.” Luz sighs and sits up. “Let me get my scroll.”

“She has caller id,” Amity says.

“She doesn’t have my number.”

“Human caller id only works if you know their number?” Willow asks.

Luz nods. “Magic continues to be better than technology. What am I calling her on, then?”

Willow hands her the house phone, a crow with a number pad on its stomach. Luz hands it directly to Amity and says, “I don’t know her number.”

The witch raises an eyebrow. “You think I have it memorized?”

“No, but you can check.”

With a roll of her eyes, Amity summons her scroll and types Boscha’s number into the crow’s number pad.

“Thank you, mi reina,” Luz says when Amity hands it back.

“You’re welcome, dork.”

Willow shakes her head at the two of them. Luz hits the dial button and waits as the dial tone rings.

After a second, Boscha’s voice asks, “ _Hello?_ ”

Luz opens her mouth, then lowers the crow with a hand over the microphone and a panicked look on her face. “I’ve never prank called anyone before!” she whisper-screams.

“Just say something,” Willow says.

“ _Who is—?_ ” 

Luz hangs up and nearly drops the crow on the table. It flaps its wings and makes an offended noise before flying back to its perch.

“Sorry,” Luz says, as much to the crow as Willow and Amity.

“It’s okay, Luz,” Willow says.

“That still counts,” Amity says. “You know Boscha hates being ignored, and you hung up on her. She must be pissed right now.”

“Yeah.” Luz brightens back up.

Willow shakes her head at them again before yawning. “I think I’m gonna join Gus in dreamland. Good night.”

“Okay, night,” Luz says.

“Good night, Willow,” Amity adds.

Luz waits until Willow leaves the kitchen before offering her hand to Amity. “You wanna go stargaze?”

The witch grins and accepts it. “Sure.”

A cold breeze greets them when Luz opens the door, making both girls shiver.

“Heh, you’d think the _Boiling_ Isles would be warmer,” Luz says, earning an eye roll from Amity.

“Comedy genius,” she deadpans.

“Thanks! I try.”

That gets a chuckle out of Amity.

They lie down on the grass, close enough to still hold hands. Luz looks at the sky with a look of awe that Amity usually sees when the human finds some new creature or spell that she’d yet to see, which makes her wonder.

“Do you not have stars in the human realm?”

Luz hums in question. “Oh, we do, but since all of our lights are made from technology it blocks out most of the stars.”

“Why not turn them off?”

“It’s not that easy. Every house and business and streetlight in my town would have to turn off their lights to see _half_ this may stars.” She gestures at the sky with her free hand for emphasis, then lets it fall on her stomach. “I mean, maybe sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean would help, but I’m like 99% sure that they’re different skies. I haven’t been able to find _any_ constellations from Earth.”

“Really?” Amity points up and traces a line between a cluster of stars, using her magic to actually leave a line connecting them into the shape of a bird. “You don’t have Vespera?”

“Nope.” Luz looks around the sky for a second before pointing at one constellation. “Ever seen that one before?”

Amity follows Luz’s finger, eyes widening. “Isn’t that your light glyph?”

“Yep!”

“I’ve... never, seen that one before.”

“That’s ‘cause you weren’t looking for it.”

The two stay outside for an hour, talking about stars and constellations. Despite having none of the same ones, the stories behind quite a few are the same between the two realms. 

Luz isn’t sure which one of them starts yawning first, but conversations starts tapering off until they’re both just lying in the yard silently.

“Hey, Luz?”

The human hums and looks at Amity.

“You... really like me with my hair down?"

Luz smiles. “I like you no matter what you do. But yes. You look really pretty with it down.” She blushes. “Not that you _don’t_ look pretty with it up! I’m just— gonna stop talking now.”

Amity chuckles and kisses Luz’s cheek, making the human blush even more. “I know what you mean. Thank you, Luz.” She yawns again. “We should probably go back inside.”

“Yeah.”

Luz stands and gives Amity a hand up. The earlier cool breeze returns, sending both of them shivering as they head inside. The living room is only slightly warmer than outside, to the point where Amity is still shivering even after tucking herself into her sleeping bag. Luz notices and scoots closer, tossing her extra blanket over the both of them.

“Luz—”

“No objections, I’m not letting you freeze to death.”

Amity rolls her eyes. “I would not freeze to death from being a _little_ cold.” That said, she does scoot a bit closer to Luz, tugging the blanket around her.

“You don’t know that,” the human whispers.

Amity shakes her head. “Good night, Luz.”

“Night, Ami.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was initially gonna try to actually write the pillow fight, but then I gave up, lol.
> 
> With this chapter I've officially run out of my buffer, so let's hope next week's chapter will still be on time.


	11. First "I Love You"

The first “I love you” takes them both by surprise.

**~~~~~**

It’s a Friday, which means Amity reading to the kids at the library followed by _Azura_ book club. By this point, Luz has been joining Amity at story time for over a month, and more than a few of the kids have asked about the human who lingers at the back of the room and watches Amity read with a dumb look on her face.

(“Their words, not mine,” Amity had said, hands raised, when she told Luz last week.

“Suuuuuure,” Luz had replied, poking Amity’s reddening cheek. “ _Totally_ believe you, Blight.”)

She debated asking all week, but Luz finally decides to ask if she can read with Amity. The witch, though, isn’t the biggest fan of that idea.

“Come on, _please_ ,” Luz begs in a last-ditch attempt as they climb the steps to the library. “It’ll be _fun~_.”

Amity barely keeps herself from snapping at the human. Between being called down to Bump’s office because of her siblings skipping class again and the pop quiz in her history class that she hadn’t felt confident handing in, she’s having a stressful day. Not to mention, reading to the kids is _her_ thing. Before Luz arrived on the Isles, story time was the best part of every week, and she isn’t quite sure if she’s ready to share that yet, even with Luz.

But she knows snapping at Luz will get her nowhere, so she takes a deep breath before saying, “We’ll ask the kids, alright?”

“Yes!” Luz says with a pumped fist. “You’re the best, Amity!”

The witch shakes her head and opens the library doors.

**~~~~~**

The kids seem ecstatic at the idea of Luz reading to them with Amity, and one unanimous hand-raising later, Amity heads to the bookshelf to grab _Otabin the Bookmaker._

“You know,” Luz says to the kids in a stage-whisper, “ _Otabin_ is my favorite book, too.”

_No it’s not, you_ Azura _fan girl,_ is Amity’s immediate thought, but she doesn’t voice it.

Any lingering hesitation about doing story time with Luz evaporates when the human does an Otabin impression that would put Bard Track witches to shame. When the other character with speaking lines appears, Amity feels brave enough to give him a distinct voice too.

Their voices result in the loudest cheering Amity has heard from the kids in a while when she closes the book, and more than a few of them ask Luz to come back next week.

The human beams at them and says, still using her Otabin voice, “Why, of course I will!”

That earns even more cheering, which covers Amity’s soft chuckles.

The kids’ parents arrive to take them home, and once the last straggler is gone, Luz leads the way to Amity’s hideout.

“How did you mimic Otabin’s voice so well?” Amity asks on the way.

Luz shrugs. “I like doing fan-dubs of comics, so I have a bit of practice with voices.”

“Only a bit?”

“Well, only about 3 hours worth of recorded stuff.”

Amity shakes her head. “If you say so, Miss I-Don’t-Get-Along-With-Babies.”

“Oh, no no no. I meant _baby_ babies. Put one of those little guys in my arms and they _immediately_ burst into tears. Once they’re over like, three, we’re chill.”

They reach the romance section as Amity laughs. “Sure, Luzura.” She pulls the lever book and bookshelf slides aside.

Luz steps through backwards so she can keep eye contact. “Ooooh, breaking out the old nicknames, are we, Mittens? Reading _Otabin_ making you feel nostalgic?”

Amity pauses in closing the door to half-glare at her. “Don’t call me that.”

“Right, sorry.”

“And that was only two months ago. I’d hardly call that nostalgia.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s long enough to count.”

“I wouldn’t be so confident.”

“Well, I’m confident about everything, so—” Luz sticks out her tongue.

Amity chuckles again, shaking her head. She grabs two diaries off of her bookshelf and holds one out to Luz. “Here, dork.”

They had made a habit of writing in their diaries for a few minutes before reading, mostly because Amity knows Luz doesn’t come in during the rest of the week to vent her frustrations.

The two of them settle into their usual writing positions, Luz on the pillows and Amity at her desk. The witch starts by writing down her earlier anxiety over her siblings and the history test, but her words quickly turn to Luz and them reading to the kids.

_I thought that reading_ Otabin _with Luz would remind me of the Library Incident, but all I can think about is when we were running from him and Luz made me laugh. I’m so lucky to have her in my life. Honestly, I should have figured out then that I lov—_

Amity realizes what she’s writing and stops. She’s only known Luz for three months at this point, and they’ve only dated for most of one of those. Is it too early to say she loves her?

Luz notices the lack of writing coming from Amity and looks up from her diary. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just... thinking.”

“Well, write what you’re thinking. Isn’t that what you told me to do?”

Amity raises an eyebrow. “What, are you suddenly the queen of diary writing?”

Luz shakes her head with a cheeky grin. “Just repeating what _you_ told _me,_ Your Majesty.”

Amity laughs. “Well, what good is a queen without her fearless champion?”

“Oh, always in danger, I’d imagine.” Luz pauses. “No, wait a sec, let me remember. Ah, yes, lording her greatness over everyone, making them all tremble before her.”

Amity’s grin slips a bit. _I did act like that, didn’t I? Before Luz. She finally gave me a reason to change._

Luz notices Amity’s drop in mood and winces. “Sorry. Too much?”

“No, Luz. Just...” She takes a breath and looks her in the eye. “I love you.”

Amity swears Luz goes more red than she does. The human drops her pencil and stares at her like a mothman caught in sunlight.

Panic seeps into Amity’s stomach, but before she can ask if it _is_ too soon to say that, Luz says, “I love you too!”

She throws her diary closed, and luckily Amity can tell by now when Luz is going to hug her. They meet halfway, nearly knocking each other over, but manage to squeeze each other tight enough to stay on their feet. Over the sound of her racing heart, Amity hears Luz whispering, “Te quiero,” enough times to know what it means without asking, and somehow manages to hug her even tighter.


	12. Amity's First Breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!!
> 
> Sorry that this angst-fest is the first thing you're getting from me, lol. That said, yeah... *pats the angst tag* You've been warned.

“Have you seen Luz today?”

Amity looks up from her lunch at Willow’s worried question as the plant witch and Gus sit down. “No, she doesn’t have any Abomination classes on Mondays.”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Willow,” Gus says. “Eda probably swept her up on some adventure super early and she didn’t have time to tell us.”

Willow doesn’t look convinced, and now that Gus mentioned it...

“I did think it was weird that she didn’t send me a good morning text,” Amity muses to herself.

“See?” Willow says to Gus. “I told you something was up!”

“Or you’re both overreacting. Come on, this is _Luz_ we’re talking about.” He lowers his voice. “She went one-on-one with the Emperor and _won._ Whatever’s going on, she can handle it.”

“She shouldn’t have to handle anything by herself. Back me up here, Amity.”

They look to where Amity had been sitting, only to find an empty seat.

“Where’d she go?” Gus asks.

She’d gone to the bathroom, where she locks herself in the last stall and summons her scroll. There are a handful of texts from the twins, but still none from Luz. Amity’s finger hovers over their conversation for few seconds before she taps on it. She brings up the keyboard before hesitating again.

_Gus could be right,_ Amity thinks. _It wouldn’t be the first time Eda whisked Luz off on a trip, or that Luz has gotten so caught up in her own thing that she forgot school exists._

_But,_ another part of Amity argues, _she’s always at least told us about the first one. And Eda or Lilith have always dragged her to school by now whenever it’s the latter._

Amity’s thumbs dance over the keyboard, still not touching the screen. _What’s up with you today, Luz?_

The bell screams, making Amity flinch and nearly drop her scroll.

_Was I really in here for that long?_

With a sigh, she figures that’s a sign to trust that Luz will show up by the end of the day. She sends the scroll back into non-existence and heads to her next class.

It’s not until the last class of the day, when Amity’s writing the date in her notebook, that she suddenly realizes why Luz isn’t in school.

Today’s the last day of August.

Luz is supposed to go home today.

And Eda still hasn’t found or made a new door.

Amity fights the urge to groan and drop her head on the desk.

_I am a terrible girlfriend._

**~~~~~**

For the second time in a month (and ever in her life), Amity is the first one out of the classroom when the final bell screams. She finds Willow and Gus at the front entrance and quickly tells them her realization, then starts down the path for the Owl House before they can even process what she said.

“Wait,” Willow says, her and Gus hurrying to catch up with Amity. “There’s no way it’s been three months already!”

“Yeah,” Gus says. “I mean, time flies when you’re having fun, and when you’re in life-threatening danger, and Titan knows Luz brings plenty of both—”

Amity skids to a stop, nearly making Willow run into her. “Luz said she got here on May 31st, because that’s when her summer camp started.” She summons her scroll and holds it out to them. “What’s today?”

They stare at the date on the scroll, and Amity sees the second it clicks. She nods and dismisses the scroll.

“Yeah.” 

Amity turns around and keeps walking. After a second, Willow and Gus follow.

The rest of the walk to the Owl House is quiet. So quiet that when they round the corner to find Hooty’s face waiting for them with a yelled, “HELLO!”, Amity nearly punches him on instinct. Luckily, a vine from Willow stops her fist an inch from his beak.

“Sorry, Hooty,” Gus says. “Can we see Luz?”

“NOPE! EDA AND LUZ SAID _NO_ VISITORS TODAY!”

“Come on, bird,” Amity growls.

“NOPE!”

Willow tightens the vine around Amity’s wrist when she sees her fist clench. “Why did they say no visitors?”

“DON’T KNOW.”

“Just,” Amity snaps. She takes a breath and starts again, calmer. “Just, tell Luz that we’re always here if she needs to talk.”

Hooty stares at the three witches for a minute, then says, “OKAY! HEY, YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE BEETLE I SAW EARLIER?”

“Nope!” Gus yells. “Bye, Hooty!”

**~~~~~**

Either Hooty doesn’t pass on the message or Luz _really_ doesn’t want to talk to anyone, because by Friday, she still hasn’t shown up to school, or even sent a text to Amity.

“We should go back to the Owl House after school,” she says to Willow and Gus during lunch. “Right?”

“We have,” Gus sighs. “Every day.”

“Eda talked to us yesterday,” Willow adds. “She said she heard what was probably Luz talking to her mom on Monday night, but since then...”

“She’s heard as much as we have?” Amity guesses.

Willow and Gus nod sadly. Amity deflates and half-heartedly moves food around her tray.

“She just needs time,” Willow says.

“Yeah,” Gus says. “I’m sure she’ll be back to herself soon!”

**~~~~~**

_Soon, adverb: in or after a short time._ To Amity, that means that Gus expected Luz to burst into Blight Manor to take her on a spur of the moment staff ride around the Isles either that night or by tomorrow.

So when dinner on Saturday passes without even a text back from Luz, marking eight days since she’s seen her girlfriend and six since she’s talked to her, Amity does what any rational person would do: curls up on her bed, wraps herself up in her blanket, and stares at her scroll, open on her conversation with Luz. Her last message, _“Luz, please talk to me,”_ sent during lunch on Friday, says “sent” below it, meaning Luz hasn’t even opened her scroll yet.

Her bedroom door opens slowly, and she looks up to see the twins standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Hey, Mittens,” Emira says softly.

“Go away,” Amity replies, rolling over so her back is to the door.

They ignore her, of course, and walk closer to her bed instead.

“We know—” Edric starts.

“You don’t know anything!” Amity snaps. She sits up and spins around, and both twins take a half step back when they see just how distraught she is. “And I don’t either! Eda said Luz has barely left her room all week, and she hasn’t talked to _anyone,_ and... and I don’t know what to do.”

Ed and Em share a concerned look as Amity wraps her arms around herself. The last time they saw Amity this upset... _have_ they ever seen her this upset before?

Emira reacts first, sitting next to Amity on the bed. She hesitantly puts an arm over her shoulder, and nearly takes it back when Amity tenses. But then the youngest Blight leans against Emira, so she tightens the half hug. Edric sits on Amity’s other side.

“You’re right,” he says. “We didn’t know that.”

“And we want to help,” Emira adds. “So, how can we?”

“I don’t know,” Amity mumbles. “Luz is upset because she can’t go home, but if she _does_ go home...” She takes a breath and finishes barely above a whisper, “I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again.”

For the first time in a long time, Amity cries. Edric and Emira stay by her side, in a tight group hug. As much as they want to tell her, “It’s okay,” they know that it isn’t.

But they’re there. And that helps.

**~~~~~**

Luz is still radio-silent all of Sunday and Monday morning, and Amity mentally prepares for another week without her in school.

Until her scroll vibrates during her math class, and she scrambles to unlock it without letting her teacher see. Because there’s only one person who would be texting her right now.

_Luz: Hey, remember me? ;)  
.....sorry I disappeared for a bit  
Can we talk in your hideout in an hour? _

An hour from now is Amity’s History of Abomination class, and if her parents ever found out she skipped class she’d be dead. Despite that, she doesn’t hesitate to send her answer.

_Amity: Of course._

**~~~~~**

When Amity walks into her library hideout an hour later, Luz is already there. She looks like death, but when she hugs Amity, it’s with the same strength she always has.

“Luz,” Amity breathes.

Luz tightens the hug and buries her face in the crook of Amity’s neck. “My mom didn’t take the truth that well.”

“I’m here.”

“I know.”

They stay standing in a hug for a few more seconds. Then, Luz backs away and sits on the pillows. Amity takes the beanbag chair, and after a second, Luz squirms in place.

“Could I sit on your lap?”

“Whatever makes you the most comfortable, Luz.”

She nods appreciatively and moves to Amity’s lap. The witch wraps her arms around her waist almost instinctively.

Luz takes a deep breath. “So. You know how I was supposed to go home last week?”

Amity nods.

“Well, obviously I had to tell my mom that, uh, plans changed.”

**~~ Last Week ~~**

Luz appreciates that Eda called her in sick to Hexside. While it’s true that her stomach doesn’t quite feel like it’s agreeing with the rest of her body, she and Eda both know it’s from nerves and not demon pox like the witch claimed to Bump.

King hasn't left Luz's side since she woke up, which she appreciates more than anything right now

_Mama: So excited to see you today!!!  
Do you know what time the bus will get here? _

Luz groans, slouching down against the wall of her room more. King perks up from where he was napping.

"Luz?" he says. "Is it—?"

"Yeah."

King sits up and wags his tail for a few seconds while Luz stares at her phone.

"Anything I can do?" the demon asks.

Luz shrugs, not looking away from her phone. "Can you grab my notebook?"

King gives a salute before scampering down to the living room. Luz had spent all weekend thinking of how her mom would react to the truth and wrote down her responses to various potential messages in her notebook. It, admittedly, probably wasn't the smartest use of a weekend, only brewing more anxiety, but it kept Lilith holed up in her room and out of her way.

Plus, now that the time to actually tell her mom has come, her brain's blank.

King returns with her notebook as her phone vibrates again. Luz takes it with a half smile.

“Thanks, King. I think I wanna be alone, now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

King nods, but gives Luz a tight hug before leaving her room, closing the door behind him.

Luz flips open the notebook and finds the first page with the practice texts on it. It only takes a few seconds to find the response to the bus question. She takes a deep breath, which does nothing to undo the tight knot that her stomach has become, before picking up her phone.

“Alright,” she says to herself. “Here goes.... Here goes.”

_Mama: Luz?_

_Luz: The bus isn’t bringing me back_

_Mama: Do I need to pick you up?_

__

_Luz: No  
Mom....  
I never went to camp _

Luz waits, but after a minute with no reply, she has to continue.

_Luz: This is going to sound crazy, but I SWEAR I’m telling the truth_

__

_Mama: Where are you? Why did you never tell me?_

__

_Luz: I’ll get to the second one, I promise_

With a deep breath, Luz finally tells her mom the truth. Owlbert stealing _Azura,_ chasing him through Eda’s Realm Door, asking to stay, going to Hexside for the first time, finding spell glyphs....

There are a few things Luz leaves out, like the Conformitorium and how bad Eda’s curse actually was. She does send a few pictures, though. Of her friends, the Isles, magic. By the time she gets to the Door being destroyed, her hands are shaking so badly she can barely hit the right buttons.

_Luz: It was either give up the door or let Eda die  
and as much as I didn’t want either to happen  
there’s still a chance that we can find another way home  
There wasn’t any bringing Eda back _

Her mom stopped interjecting around the Slitherbeast Incident, so Luz isn’t surprised when the conversation goes silent for a few minutes.

_Luz: Eda’s okay now - we all are!_  
_There’s still been some chaos since then  
but it’s mostly been usual demon-realm/magic chaos  
and normal teenage craziness _

Another two minutes go by without a reply from her mom.

_Luz: Mami?_

And then Camila does the one thing Luz was desperately hoping she wouldn’t do.

She calls.

“No no no no,” Luz whispers. “¿Por qué tenías que llamar?”

Knowing there’s no way she could ever get away with not picking up, even under normal circumstances, Luz picks up.

“Hola, Mami.”

“Mija, when are you coming home?”

The pure amount of _hurt_ in her mom’s voice, coupled with the fact that this is the first time she’s heard her in three months, makes Luz tear up.

“Mom—”

“¿Cuándo vienes a casa?”

“I... Mama, yo no sé.”

**~~ Current Day ~~**

“It took a while to convince her that I’m trapped,” Luz says, wiping tears off her face. “Even longer for Mom to actually accept it. It was... a lot.”

Amity squeezes her hand, which she had started holding when Luz started talking.

“Anything I can do right now?” the witch asks.

Luz shakes her head. “Just... be here? And be you?”

Amity nods with a sad smile. “I can do that.”

Luz gives her a watery smile before crushing her in another hug. Amity returns it, rubbing her girlfriend's back when she starts crying again.


	13. First Parental Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pats this chapter* This bad boy can fit so much hurt/comfort in it.
> 
> Disclaimer/tw: You know Lilith's one line in "Covention" when she sees Luz for the first time and asks Eda where she "found one of these"? Yeah, I just took that and ran with it with Alador and Odalia so trigger warning for dehumanization and referring to people (Luz) as it.

The first time Amity wants to fight with her parents over Luz takes a lot longer than anyone would have guessed.

**~~~~~**

It still takes Luz a bit to return to anywhere close to her usual ball-of-energy self this time, but by the end of September she’s mostly returned. Amity’s relieved by this, and Edric and Emira take immediate note of her brighter mood and return to their regularly scheduled sibling teasing of their relationship.

Of course, said teasing is always reserved for when their parents aren’t around. None of them want to find out what Alador or Odalia’s reaction would be to any of them even associating with “lower” witches, let alone dating a human. 

Although, even with Luz’s grand infamy and well-known status as a Hexside student, neither of the Blight parents have ever mentioned her. Amity figures that they would want the siblings to keep an eye on her considering how rare a human on the Isles, not to mention her status as the Owl Lady’s apprentice. Still, Amity knows better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Almost as if thinking that it was odd that their parents never brought Luz up was what the universe was waiting for, Odalia asks about her at dinner that night.

“So,” she starts, looking between her kids. “What do the three of you know about this... human, attending Hexside?”

Amity can feel her heart stop beating for a second. If her parents notice the blood draining from her face, or the looks Edric and Emira give her, they don’t comment on it.

“Not that much,” Emira says, always the best at dealing with their parents. “Why?”

“It has apparently received the third highest score on the freshman Illusion theory exam,” Alador says, making Amity wince at his calling Luz _it._

“I have heard that she’s pretty smart,” Edric says, carefully not looking at Amity. “She’s apparently studying every track.”

The kids flinch at how harshly Odalia puts her wineglass down. “An affront to the Titan. Studying every form of magic.” She turns to her husband. “Can you imagine, dear?”

Alador shakes his head. “It should know what happens to wild witches. Wasn’t it there for the Owl Lady’s petrification?”

Amity feels Ed and Em looking at her now, but doesn’t trust herself to look up from her plate.

She has _never_ wanted to yell at her parents more than she does right now. Even forcing Willow away didn’t hurt as badly. She wants to tell them that Eda is an amazing person regardless of how she practiced magic, wild before and with glyphs now. She wants to repeat what Luz taught her and Willow and Gus and what she had then taught Ed and Em about “cults” in the human realm. She wants to point out that the Emperor’s Coven members are allowed to practice all forms of magic, so what should it matter that Luz is studying them all?

But she knows how dangerous saying any of that is, so instead quietly asks, “May I be excused?”

“Finish your vegetables, first,” Odalia says, not even looking at her plate. She continues to Alador, “The Owl Lady is likely what made the human think it can study magic like it does.”

“Can it even _perform_ magic? It doesn’t have a bile sack.”

“She uses glyphs,” is out of Amity’s mouth before she can fill it with food. 

She tenses in the same insistent that the twins give her the same look, a medley of surprise and fear. Their parents, meanwhile, look at her with raised eyebrows.

Odalia carefully lays down her knife. “And how do you know that?”

“It’s common knowledge at school,” Emira says. How she manages a calm voice is beyond Amity, considering she feels close to throwing up. “She does demonstrations in the cafeteria sometimes to entertain people.”

Their parents share a look, one that only serves to make the kids more nervous.

“Amity,” Alador finally says. “Keep an eye on the human. It is in the same classes as you, isn’t it?”

Amity has to swallow her pride, anger, and some bile before managing, “Yes, father.”

**~~~~~**

She isn’t sure how she manages to clear her plate so she can leave the table, but her body is certainly rebelling against the act. Luckily, Ed and Em follow her to her room, and the embarrassment of losing her dinner in front of her siblings keeps her stomach mostly in check.

That doesn’t mean she has the energy to tell them to get out, though, and curls up on her bed without even a half-hearted glare in their direction. Granted, the twins don’t seem to have the energy to say anything either, only sitting silently at the foot of her bed, looking between Amity and each other.

Finally, Emira starts, “Hey, Amity?”

“Not in the mood,” she mumbles into her pillow.

“Anything we can do to help?” Edric asks.

She shakes her head, but sits up, staring at her blanket. “How could they keep calling Luz an it? She’s a human, not an animal.”

“We know, Mittens,” Edric says.

The siblings sit in silence for a few moments.

“I’m surprised you said anything,” Emira says.

“I wasn’t thinking. I’m just glad I didn’t say anything else.” Amity finally looks up. “Thanks for saving me, by the way.”

“Hey, it’s what siblings are for.”

“We can cover for you,” Edric says. “If you want to go to the Owl House and— oof!”

Amity cuts him off with a hug, pulling Emira in too.

For a second, the three of them sit there, holding each other tightly.

“Thank you,” Amity whispers, breaking the hug off and standing. “How long?”

“I wouldn’t spend the night if I were you,” Edric shrugs.

The youngest Blight nods and moves to her window, summoning an abomination tall enough to carry her safely to the ground. She looks back at the twins before stepping out.

“I owe you guys.”

Emira waves her off. “Just don’t tell next time we skip class.”

Amity chuckles. “I think I can do that.”

**~~~~~**

Fifteen minutes later, Luz looks up from where she’s drawing glyphs in the living room when Hooty swings open with a loud call of, “AMITY’S HERE!” She’s up from the couch in a second, but Amity runs to her so fast for a hug she doesn’t even have time to move.

“Hey,” Luz says gently, returning the hug. “What’s wrong?”

“Just...” Amity hugs her tighter. “Wanted to be here.”

“Parents?”

Amity nods into her shoulder.

Luz breaks off the hug so they can sit on the couch. Not that she actually sits for long, putting her legs in Amity’s lap once the witch sits down. Amity kisses her cheek before laying against her chest, closing her eyes as Luz wraps her arms around her.

“I love you,” Luz says.

“Te quiero,” Amity replies.

Luz grins and kisses the top of Amity’s head. “Your accent’s getting better.”

Amity chuckles, wrapping her arms around Luz. “I have been practicing.”

Luz carefully takes out Amity’s hair tie, slipping it onto her own wrist before running her hand through Amity’s hair. The witch hums contentedly, moving her head slightly so she can hear her girlfriend’s heart beat, absent of the echo of a bile sack. She squeezes Luz a bit tighter, which Luz returns with one arm, the other hand still carding through Amity’s hair for a few minutes before her own eyes close.

That’s how Eda finds them an hour later, heading to the kitchen after Lilith’s announcement that dinner is ready: peacefully asleep on the couch in each other’s arms. She almost feels bad for waking them up, but knows that Luz will be cranky if she doesn’t eat.

Luckily, King runs down the stairs with a yell of, “Food!” that wakes the teens up, so Eda doesn’t have to feel guilty.

“What time is it?” Amity asks, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Dinner,” Eda says.

Amity starts at her voice and tries to scoot away from Luz, which doesn’t work very well with Luz’s legs still over her lap.

“Relax, kid. I’m sure Lili made plenty of food.”

“Heck yeah, Amity’s joining us for dinner!” Luz cheers, jumping off the couch and pulling her girlfriend to her feet.

“I already ate at the manor,” she tries to protest.

“I’m sure you worked up an appetite walking here. Plus, we have apple blood pie~.”

Amity lets herself be dragged into the already noisy kitchen. “How did you manage that?”

“Magic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I failed in my description of how Amity and Luz were sitting on the couch (or if you just want to see that), it's basically this drawing by raspbi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEYDLWzgNQV/?igshid=1lom0htfstwkq
> 
> I'll see y'all next week for the chapter I'm sure you've been waiting for.


	14. First Kiss

Neither of them would change their first kiss for the world.

**~~~~~**

Approaching their two month anniversary, Luz and Amity’s relationship is still, somehow, a secret to everyone who didn’t know the first week. Or, at the very least, _as far as they’re aware,_ it’s still a secret. Luz is well aware that she’s not the most subtle person in the realm — _realms,_ both human and demon — but she’s tried. Anything is worth it for Amity.

Luckily, the one thing they don’t need to really worry about, considering how casually affectionate Luz is with all of her friends, is how often they hold hands. They take advantage of this when school ends on Thursday, walking hand in hand next to Willow and Gus to the school exit.

“You _sure_ you don’t want to come study with us, Amity?” Gus is asking. “We all know you won the All-Isles History Bee last year.”

“I’d love to," Amity sighs, "but Ed and Em are dragging me to the Knee for training." She looks at Luz. “Hopefully there won’t be any stray fireballs that hit a Slitherbeast this time.”

Luz dramatically groans as they pass through the exit doors. “It was an accident! And I found the ice glyph because of that, so I still consider it a win.”

Willow chuckles and shakes her head. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because Luz is a trouble magnet,” Amity says.

“What is this, attack the human day?” Luz asks.

Amity grins and squeezes her hand. “Attack? Are you asking for a rematch to our witch’s duel? Because we can make that happen.”

Gus shakes his head at the two of them. “How no one has caught on about the two of you is beyond me.”

“Luck,” all three girls chorus. This is immediately followed by two “Hey!”s directed at Willow, who shrugs.

“What? Gus has a point.”

The four of them reach the fork in the road that splits between the Owl House and the rest of Bonesborough. Willow, Gus, and Luz move to the first while Amity joins her waiting siblings on the second.

“See you tomorrow, guys,” she says.

“See ya, mi reina.” Luz looks around and, deeming it safe, blows Amity a kiss.

She pretends to catch it and moves her fist to her heart. “Te quiero, my fearless champion.”

“Te quiero.”

Luz, Willow, and Gus can hear Ed and Em tease Amity as they head their separate ways, all three Blights’ voices carrying loudly. Willow decides that teasing sounds like a great idea and bumps her shoulder into Luz’s.

“Awwwww. You guys are adorable. Blowing kisses at each other.”

Luz blushes but can’t fight the grin on her face. “What about it?”

“Have you two _actually_ kissed yet?” Gus asks.

“We have. Technically. _Plenty_ of forehead and cheek kisses, but no Kiss yet. With a capital k.” Luz clears her throat awkwardly. “On the lips.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Luz,” Willow, ever the mom friend, assures. “There’s no timeline or anything with relationships. It’ll happen when the time is right.”

Luz knows that, she does. But she also knows that she _does_ want to Kiss Amity. And she may have missed how bad the witch’s crush was for just over a month, but she hasn’t missed her staring at Luz’s lips more than a few times, so she’s _fairly_ certain that the feeling is mutual.

Still, Willow has a point. The time has to be right.

Luckily, a two month anniversary _definitely_ counts as good timing in Luz’s mind.

**~~~~~**

Luz isn’t surprised when Amity agrees to a dinner/sunset watching picnic at their tree on Saturday, but a part of her is still relieved she says yes.

“Why sunset, though?” Amity asks.

“It’s my favorite time of day and I want to spend it with my favorite person.”

In reality, it’s because Luz has a plan. Right timing means right atmosphere, too, and between all the fanfiction and cheesy rom-coms she’s read and watched, she knows exactly what she’s aiming for: meaningful location plus romantic time of day.

Of course, that plan does also include checking the tree — multiple times — for any lingering Grom remnants. It helped break the tension during their first date, but would certainly ruin any Kiss attempt. The fact that she does run into yet another human-faced cat on her third check of the tree proves her paranoia had a point.

The plan also involves drawing a large stack of light glyph cards, several of which she accidentally activates whenever she tries to neaten the stack and put them in her pocket.

But when Saturday evening comes and Amity walks out of the forest, her hair down and wearing a black sundress, and Luz can feel her breath catch in her throat, she knows that _it’s worth it._ Luz herself is wearing overalls she found in the market last week over a sunflower t-shirt, her hair slicked back like at Grom.

“Hey,” Luz says, pulling Amity into a hug.

“Hey yourself.”

When they break the hug, Amity ruffles Luz’s hair with a grin.

“That was rude,” the human pouts.

“You look stupid with it slicked back.”

Luz gasps and puts a hand to her chest dramatically. “How dare you? King spent all of five minutes doing that and you call it stupid?”

Amity laughs, and Luz chuckles. They sit down to eat, and this time the silence is companionable opposed to awkward. When they do start to talk, conversation comes easy, discussing their upcoming test in Abomination Creation.

They finish eating as the bottom of the sun hits the horizon. Luz scoots closer to Amity so the witch can lean on her shoulder as they watch the sun, and Luz finds her gaze jumping between the star and her girlfriend.

_Not yet,_ she reminds herself, turning back to the sun just as it completely slips below the horizon. She pulls a few light glyphs out of her pocket and activates them, sending them floating around their heads, their own personal constellations. Amity watches the papers transform into balls of light, like she always does, the same amazed smile on her face as the first time Luz showed her her magic.

“Never gets old, huh?” Luz says.

“Not when you do it.”

The flirting still makes them both blush, and part of Luz is screaming _NOW_ and part of her is yelling _NOT YET,_ so she just stares at Amity like the lovestruck fool she is.

Amity finally looks down from the light glyphs and catches Luz staring. The human can swear Amity blushes harder, and Luz smirks.

But before she can make a snarky comment, Amity quickly asks, “Can I kiss you?”

Luz goes as red as Amity. The question bounces around in her brain for a few seconds before she can manage, “Like on the lips?” 

She immediately cringes at the question, but Amity just says, “Yeah?”

Luz nods, somewhere between hesitant and enthusiastic.

Both of them stare at each other for a few more seconds.

But then Amity’s moving,

and Luz is moving,

and their noses get in the way for a second but they push past it and don’t care because then their lips are touching and _they’re Kissing._

They hold it for a few seconds before backing away, eyes still closed, doubting that that just happened—

Until a light giggle comes out of Luz’s mouth.

She slaps a hand over it, mentally repeating, _I did not just do that, I did not just do that,_ until Amity _laughs,_ loud and echoing through the woods and off the water in the way that only Luz gets to hear her laugh.

“That could have gone better,” the human mutters, bright red.

“I’m...” Amity takes a breath and lets out a few more chuckles, “not laughing at you, I promise.”

“I wasn’t either. I don’t know why I laughed!”

“Because nothing ever goes right with us?”

Luz nods. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

They both chuckle a few more times before leaning against their tree, watching the balls of light drift into the boughs. A few get stuck in the leaves, giving the illusion of string lights in the branches. The choir of the Boiling Isles night life begins, joining the waves in the ambiance of the night.

“Do you, uh,” Luz starts, looking at Amity. “Want to try again?”

And maybe “try again” is their motto.

Maybe they’ll never get anything “right” on the first try.

But they’ll be damned if they never take their second chances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 450 kudos, 60 comments, 50 bookmarks, and 8,500 hits later, we have reached the end. Actually finishing a multi-chapter fic for the first time since middle school feels surreal. Honestly, when the idea for this fic hit me, I didn't even think that I would actually _write_ it, let alone have it receive this much attention and love.
> 
> So, to everyone who interacted with this story in any way, thank you. Double thanks especially to those who bookmarked and commented (TRIPLE thanks to Ru8e89, hyacinth (Lexa_Alycia), and BackLabyrinth07, who have all left more than FIVE comments each [also if you haven’t read anything by hyacinth (Lexa_Alycia), go do that now. She is a freaking amazing writer!]).
> 
> _The Owl House,_ and especially Luz and Amity, very quickly took a very special place in my heart. So I can promise that this is far from the last _Owl House_ fic you'll see from me.
> 
> But for now, again, thank you so much for reading.


End file.
